ST.  TERESA'S 
BOOK-MARK 


Let  nothing  trouble  thee, 
Let  nothing  affright  thee. 
All  things  are  passing; 
Only  God  is  changeless. 
Patience  gains  all  things. 
Who  hath  God,  wanteth  nothing 
God  alone  sufficeth. 


A   Meditative   Commentary 


FROM  THE  SPANISH  OF 
THE  VERY  REVEREND  LUKE  OF  ST.  JOSEPH 

ASSISTANT  GENERAL  OF  THE  ORDER  OF  THE 
DISCALCED  CARMELITES,  ROME 


Published  by  the 
Discalced  Carmelite  Nuns,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Printed  by 
H.  S.  Collins  Printing  Co.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 


Copyright  1919 
All  Rights  Reserved  Printed  in  U.  S.  A. 


Nihil  obstat. 

St.  Louis,  19.  Jan.,  1919. 

F.  G.  HOLWECK,  Censor. 


imprimatur 

STL  LUDOVICI,  die  19.  Jan.,  1919. 


JOANNES  JOSEPHUS, 

Archiepiscopus,  St.  Ludovici. 


2037C1A 


Introduction 

0UR  Holy  Mother  St.  Teresa  was  a  re- 
markable poet  because  she  was  a  great 
Saint.    All   the   Saints    are   poets,    al- 
though   not   all    have    left   us    written    in 
rhythmic  cadences  the  ardent  sentiments  of 
their  deified  souls. 

The  foundation  of  poetry  is  truth,  its  dis- 
tinctive trait  is  sentiment;  its  attractive  gala 
apparel  is  lent  to  it  by  the  imagination. 
He  was  not  entirely  wrong  who  defined 
poetry:  as  the  language  of  passion  and  of 
an  ardent  imagination.  (Blair's  Lessons  in 
Rhetoric  and  Fine  Arts,  XXXIV.) 

An  inspiration  suddenly  surprising  one's 
spirit,  envelops  it  in  a  nimbus  of  light  and 
moves  it  deeply.  Behold  the  soul  of  poetry! 
At  its  light  all  the  faculties  of  the  soul 
awaken,  and  the  warmth  that  they  irradiate 
communicates  itself  to  the  fancy,  the  heart, 
perhaps  to  the  very  senses ;  and  thus,  all  the 
vital  forces  concentrating  on  the  object  that 


Introduction 

awakened  them,  the  spirit  sings  or  weeps, 
that  is,  feels  itself  a  poet. 

Truth  is  to  souls  what  the  sun  is  to  crea- 
tion. Its  light  is  always  the  same,  but  its 
effects  are  very  different  and  even  opposite, 
according  to  the  point  upon  which  this  light 
is  projected.  If  the  luminous  rays  fall  upon 
a  quagmire,  they  cause  germs  to  develop 
and  with  them  poison  the  air  we  breathe. 
When  inspiration  alights  upon  an  ignoble 
soul,  it  also  becomes  very  dangerous,  for  the 
powers  aroused  within  are  placed  at  the  dis- 
posal of  an  evil  purpose;  and  there  is  noth- 
ing more  dangerous  than  perverted  genius. 
With  the  germs  their  light  has  caused  to 
spring  from  the  dregs  of  the  heart  or  the 
mire  of  the  senses,  they  poison  the  moral 
atmosphere  and  may  envenom  numberless 
souls. 

But  when  these  same  rays  of  light  fall 
upon  some  well  disposed  ground  that  care- 
fully conserves  the  seeds  of  plants  and 
flowers,  at  their  heat  these  quickly  open  and 
send  forth  their  tender  shoots,  form  buds, 

[  viii  ] 


Introduction 

and  flowers  and  fruits;  thus  beautifying, 
perfuming  and  enriching  creation,  and  even 
the  little  innocent  birds  proclaim  with  joy- 
ous warbles  and  sweet  melodies  the  sun's 
light  as  it  appears  with  the  first  scintilla- 
tions of  the  dawn.  The  birds  and  flowers 
are  the  poets  of  the  irrational  world,  as  they 
answer  to  its  moods  and  sing  when  bathed 
in  warmth  and  light. 

The  light  of  truth,  resting  upon  an  inno- 
cent soul  and  pure  heart,  excites  them 
sweetly.  Powers  until  then  latent  awaken 
with  great  sprightliness  and  vigor.  The 
mind  is  able  to  see  more  clearly,  whilst  the 
heart  feels  with  greater  delicacy  and  har- 
mony. The  fancy  finds  graces  and  beauties 
until  then  unknown  to  it.  The  passions  and 
the  senses  become  silenced  or  illumined  by 
that  new  light  of  truth,  placing  themselves 
at  the  soul's  disposal.  The  spirit  imbibes 
all  of  man's  energies  and,  concentrating 
them  on  one  single  object,  soon  overflows 
in  poetical  language.  The  poetical  fire  in- 
spires and  sweetens  the  soul  which  feels 

[ix] 


Introduction 

interiorly  the  noble  sentiment  of  all  of  its 
words.  Man  is  then  a  poet,  and  he  mani- 
fests it,  whether  in  prose  or  verse.  Poetry 
is  a  flame  that  illumines  the  mind,  inflames 
the  heart  and  enriches  the  fancy.  It  is 
more  difficult  to  conceal  it  when  present 
than  to  feign  it  when  it  does  not  exist.  The 
Saints  are  naturally  poets.  Being  nearer  to 
God  and  accustomed  to  the  contemplation 
of  infinite  truth,  they  feel  more  generously 
its  divine  influence.  Their  hearts  being  so 
well  predisposed  towards  God,  and  con- 
taining the  supernatural  seeds  of  the  life  of 
God  within  them,  when  through  contem- 
plation this  heavenly  light  beams  upon 
them,  they  feel  deeply  and  sweetly  touched ; 
the  peace  and  joy  experienced  in  their  souls 
are  communicated  to  their  words  and  ac- 
tions. Therefore  Saints  are  poets,  even 
though  they  have  not  written  in  rhythmic 
cadences. 

Poetry  is  necessary  to  the  human  spirit. 
Noble  and  sensitive  souls  become  asphyxi- 
ated with  the  defilements  of  this  artificial 


[x] 


Introduction 

world,  and  in  a  poetical  atmosphere  they 
can  breathe  with  freedom.  The  Saints,  al- 
ready detached  from  earthly  miseries,  dwell 
more  in  heaven  than  on  earth;  living  and 
walking  with  freedom,  they  sing  of  their 
joys,  and  weep  for  what  yet  remains  of  their 
dull  captivity.  One  of  Milton's  biographers 
and  critics  has  aptly  said:  "None  can  be  a 
poet,  or  even  take  delight  in  poetry,  with- 
out a  certain  amount  of  pain  of  spirit." 

Profound  sadness  of  soul  is  an  almost 
essential  condition  for  the  inspiration  of 
poetry.  Truth,  love,  sadness,  and  we  must 
add  hope;  these  are  essential  to  every  true 
poet. 

The  Saints  possessed  these  qualities  in  an 
eminent  degree.  They  possessed  truth  be- 
cause they  sought  it  at  its  fountainhead, 
God ;  they  loved  tenderly  because  they  were 
Saints;  they  felt  sad  because  they  consid- 
ered themselves  exiled  from  heaven;  they 
leaned  upon  hope  because  they  felt  they 
were  the  sons  of  God. 


[xi] 


Introduction 

Our  Holy  Mother  Saint  Teresa  of  Jesus 
was  thus  familiar  with  the  manner  of  inter- 
course with  God;  she,  who  figures  in  the 
first  rank  of  the  happy  choir  of  the  souls 
most  loved  by  God;  she,  the  Angel  of 
purity,  the  Seraph  of  love  and  Cherub  of 
celestial  wisdom;  the  thrice  adorned  spouse, 
the  chosen  disciple  and  beloved  daughter 
of  Jesus,  must  needs  be  a  poet,  for  it  is 
not  possible  to  be  nearly  always  in  con- 
scious union  with  infinite  Truth  and  not  be- 
come rapt  in  the  splendors  of  His  divine 
light;  to  feel  the  constant  presence  of  that 
infinite  Beauty  and  not  become  sweetly 
captivated  by  it;  to  have  a  foretaste  of  the 
sweetness  of  that  life  above,  and  not  experi- 
ence a  weariness  and  sadness,  and  feel  a  dis- 
like for  the  things  below — to  feel  one's  self 
so  tenderly  caressed  as  a  daughter  of  God 
and  not  to  be  filled  with  unshakable  hope 
in  His  divine  promises. 

To  be  conscious  of  all  this  and  not  pro- 
claim it,  not  sing  of  it  in  the  most  intimate 
effusions  of  the  soul,  were  not  possible  to  a 


Introduction 

soul  so  grateful,  a  heart  as  ardent,  noble 
and  generous  as  hers. 

Ah,  yes!  Our  Holy  Mother  must  needs 
be  a  poet,  for  she  was  a  great  Saint.  And 
more  than  on  account  of  her  privileged  tal- 
ent, more  than  because  of  her  incomparable 
genius,  she  should  be  a  poet,  because  of 
her  most  pure  and  ardent  heart.  The  love 
of  God  that  inflamed  it,  and  not  its  genius, 
must  guide  her  pen  and  modulate  her 
sweetest  songs.  But  we  will  let  the  Saint 
instruct  us  herself.  Speaking  of  the  state  of 
the  soul  when  it  has  reached  the  third  de- 
gree of  prayer,  she  says: 

"  Tis  a  slumber  of  the  faculties,  which 
neither  lose  themselves  completely  nor  yet 
understand  how  they  act.  The  joy,  sweet- 
ness and  delight  experienced  are,  without 
comparison,  greater  than  before;  it  gives 
the  waters  of  grace  to  these  lips  and  to  this 
soul.  This  agony  is  enjoyed  with  unspeak- 
able delight.  Many  words  are  now  spoken 
in  praise  of  God,  without  rhythm,  if  the 
Lord  Himself  does  not  lend  them  harmony; 


Introduction 

the  understanding,  however,  is  of  no  worth 
here.  Oh,  my  God!  in  what  a  state  is  the 
soul  when  it  is  thus;  it  would  wish  to  be 
wholly  transformed  into  tongues  with 
which  to  praise  Thee.  /  know  someone 
who  without  being  a  poet  happened  of  a 
sudden  to  write  very  touching  couplets 
[there  is  no  doubt  but  what  this  someone 
was  the  Saint  herself],  fitly  proclaiming 
her  sorrow,  not  composed  by  her  under- 
standing, but,  in  order  the  more  to  enjoy 
the  ecstasy  that  caused  her  such  sweet  suf- 
fering, she  would  complain  of  it  to  her 
God."  (Life,  chap.  XVI.) 

Our  Saint  is  always  poetical,  in  her  prose 
no  less  than  in  her  verse.  Certain  it  is  that 
her  most  forceful  poems  do  not  contain 
greater  inspiration  or  more  ardent  senti- 
ments than  her  "Mansions  of  the  Soul,"  or 
her  incomparable  "Exclamations."  There 
is  nothing  that  can  so  exalt  the  mind  or  fill 
it  with  greater  tenderness  than  these  words 
taken  at  random:  "May  God  live  and  give 
me  life;  may  He  reign  and  I  be  captive, 

[xiv] 


Introduction 

for  my  soul  desires  no  other  freedom." 
"How  can  he  be  free  who  finds  himself  es- 
tranged from  the  Highest  Good?  What 
greater  or  more  miserable  captivity  than 
for  the  soul  to  be  loosed  from  the  hand  of 
its  Maker?  Oh,  life!  thou  enemy  of  my 
welfare,  who  but  thee  has  the  right  to  end 
thee;  I  suffer  thee  because  God  suffers  thee, 
and  I  sustain  thee  because  thou  art  His.  O 
Life,  be  not  treacherous  or  ungrateful  to 
me!  .  .  .  Alas  for  me,  O  Lord,  that  my 
exile  is  so  long;  brief  is  time  to  be  spent  for 
Thy  eternity,  yet  long  is  a  single  day  or 
even  hour  for  one  who  fears  and  knows  not 
whether  he  is  to  offend  Thee!  O  free  will 
so  enslaved  to  thy  liberty  if  not  nailed  with 
the  love  and  fear  of  Him  who  created  thee! 
Oh  when  will  that  blessed  day  arrive  which 
will  find  thee  drowned  in  the  infinite  ocean 
of  truth,  where  thou  shalt  be  free  to  sin 
no  longer,  for  thou  shalt  be  safe  from  all 
misery,  renaturalized  with  the  life  of  thy 
God.  .  .  .  Forsake  me  not,  O  Lord.  .  .  .  Let 

[xv] 


Introduction 

me  serve  Thee  always  and  do  with  me  what 
Thou  wilt"    (Exclamation  XVI.) 

As  the  Saint  is  a  poet,  not  only  on  ac- 
count of  the  divine  love  that  inflamed  her 
heart,  but  also  because  of  the  divine  truth 
that  so  fully  illumined  her  soul  in  contem- 
plation and  revealed  to  her  infinite  secrets 
— so  is  she  in  all  her  writings  no  less  tender 
than  profound.  In  any  of  her  pages  might 
be  found  material  enough  to  unfold  most 
beautiful  idyls  of  tenderness  and  for  high- 
est meditations  on  the  most  sublime  of 
moral  and  religious  truths.  She  speaks  al- 
ways no  more  to  the  understanding  than  to 
the  heart. 


[xvi] 


Prologue 


N  TIMES  gone  by,  during  days  of  trial 
and  sadness,  I  sought  (and  found) 
solace  for  my  spirit,  and  comfort  for 
my  soul,  in  meditation  upon  a  celebrated 
poem  of  our  Holy  Mother.  According  to 
authentic  tradition,  the  saintly  Mother  car- 
ried it  as  a  book-mark  in  her  Breviary,  no 
doubt  frequently  to  comfort  her  spirit  by 
reading  it.  The  editors  of  the  magazine 
Mount  Carmel,  regarding  with  excessive  in- 
dulgence our  meditations,  when  we  submit- 
ted them  to  their  inspection,  thought  it  well 
to  publish  them  in  a  series  of  articles,  which 
saw  the  light  many  years  ago  in  that  Re- 
view. Afterwards  that  Review,  giving 
them  an  esteem  which  was  certainly  unmer- 
ited, collected  and  published  them  in  a  con- 
venient edition,  which  was  immediately  ex- 
hausted. Many  have  asked  me  to  republish 
them,  with  the  assurance  that  numbers  of 
afflicted  souls  will  find  comfort  in  their  sor- 


Prologue 

rows  by  reading  my  humble  pages.  From 
some  I  have  received  letters  of  commenda- 
tion, although  it  may  well  be  guessed,  they 
were  prompted  by  excessive  kindness,  leav- 
ing justice  and  truth  a  little  in  the  back- 
ground. At  any  rate,  I  am  grateful  and 
accept  them  as  a  stimulus. 

May  Divine  Providence  deign  to  make 
use  once  more  of  this,  His  humble  instru- 
ment, in  order  to  carry  tiny  drops  of  dew 
or  little  rays  of  heavenly  light  to  other 
afflicted  souls  very  dear  to  Him.  The  Heart 
of  Jesus  rejoices  in  consoling  afflicted  spir- 
its, who  by  faith  and  hope  are  united  to 
Him,  and  who  weep,  suffer — and  invoke 
His  aid.  This  is  the  loving  way  of  a 
Father,  and  to  second  Him  in  such  a  work 
is  the  most  worthy  occupation  of  man. 
Happy  he  who  with  St.  Paul  can  say,  even 
in  the  salvation  of  a  single  soul:  "We  are 
the  helpers  and  coadjutors  of  God"  (I  Cor. 
iii,  9).  If  our  Lord  deigns  to  make  use  of 
this  little  work,  written  under  His  gaze, 
the  pen  following  the  dictates  of  the  heart, 

[xviii] 


Prologue 

in  order  to  carry  a  little  warmth  or  light 
to  a  single  soul,  the  author's  ambitions  will 
be  fully  satisfied. 

In  order  to  make  up  in  some  way  for  the 
poverty  of  these  pages,  I  have  added  at 
the  end  some  of  the  renowned  poems  writ- 
ten by  our  beloved  Holy  Mother,  as  also 
her  celestial  counsels.  I  believe  that  the 
Saint's  clients  will  be  thankful  to  me  for 
furnishing  them  in  such  a  small  manual, 
some  of  our  great  Doctor's  most  admirable 
conceptions.  May  she  protect  the  least  and 
last  of  her  sons. 

THE  AUTHOR. 

Barcelona,  Christmas,  1912. 


[xix] 


St.  Teresa's  Book- Mark 


1 


Let  nothing  trouble  thee, 
Let  nothing  affright  thee. 

The  human  heart,  how  large  and  yet  how  small  .  .  .  . 

Creatures  can  do  nothing  against  it  .  .  .  .  Whatever  hap- 

pens is  Joreseen  and  pre-ordained,  as  well  as 

permitted,  by  our  Heavenly  Father. 

SAINTS,  those  souls  so  dear  to  God, 
dwell  in  heights  inaccessible  to  the 
majority  of  mortals.  There,  nearer  to 
heaven,  they  breathe  the  very  atmosphere 
of  faith,  of  purity,  of  love  and  of  filial  con- 
fidence in  the  Divine  Goodness.  Our  dearest 
Mother,  the  peerless  Saint  Teresa,  our  in- 
spired Doctor  and  beloved  Spouse  of  Jesus, 
in  order  to  show  us  the  peace  and  sweet 
abandonment  in  the  arms  of  God,  such  as  is 
enjoyed  by  souls  who  have  reached  heights 
such  as  these,  composed  this  beautiful 
poem: 

Let  nothing  trouble  thee, 
Let  nothing  affright  thee. 

[3] 


Sm'nt  Teresa's 

All  things  are  passing; 
Only  God  is  changeless. 
Patience  gains  all  things, 
Who  hath  God,  wanteth  nothing, 
God  alone  sufficeth. 

This  is  one  of  the  sweetest  and  most 
sublime  songs  that  has  ever  resounded  in 
this  vale  of  sighs  and  tears,  a  canticle  su- 
premely beautiful  and  profoundly  wise;  it 
combines  the  greatest  theological  truths, 
the  most  lofty  thoughts  of  philosophy,  and 
the  sweetest  delights  of  poetry.  It  is  the 
language  of  an  angelic  mind,  the  song  of  a 
soul  who  feels  like  a  poet,  prays  like  a 
Christian  and  loves  like  a  Saint;  and  who 
weeps,  moans  and  sighs  as  one  exiled  from 
heaven. 

Let  nothing  trouble  thee, 
Let  nothing  affright  thee. 

Even  though  there  rise  up  against  thee, 
O  my  soul,  the  powers  of  earth  and  of  dark- 
ness, the  hatred  of  men  and  the  fury  of  hell, 
whilst  the  insane  passions  of  the  multitudes 

[4] 


Let  Toothing  Trouble  Thee 

clamor  with  rage,  and  kingdoms  plot  ven- 
geance against  thee,  although  thou  feelest 
violently  the  agitation  of  the  senses  whose 
temptations  cause  the  very  innocence  of  thy 
heart  to  shudder  in  terror,  yet 

Let  nothing  trouble  thee, 
Let  nothing  affright  thee; 

for  thy  will,  although  seemingly  so  frail,  is 
omnipotent  and  invincible  because  nothing 
nor  anyone  can  overpower  it,  if  it  does  not 
wilfully  allow  itself  to  be  conquered. 

Although  thou  art  the  plaything  of  thy 
own  heart,  which  at  one  time  feels  with  sub- 
limest  melancholy  of  the  majesty  of  heaven, 
and  yet  soon  is  smirched  by  the  petty  things 
of  earth;  which  now  on  the  wings  of  its 
fairy  dreams  seems  to  swing  over  the  con- 
fines of  time  into  eternity,  and  now  in  ad- 
versity dashes  itself  against  the  dull,  hard 
rocks  of  sadness — 

Let  nothing  trouble  thee, 
Let  nothing  affright  thee; 

for  God  has  been  pleased  to  fashion  the 
[5] 


Saint  Teresa's 

human  heart  in  a  very  singular  and  noble 
manner;  so  small  that  a  tiny  flower  delights 
it  and  so  large  that  only  the  infinite  can  fill 
it;  so  frail  that  a  single  word  perplexes  it 
and  a  smile  of  love  captivates  it,  and  so 
powerful  that  neither  the  angels  of  heaven 
with  their  wisdom,  nor  men  with  their  cun- 
ning, nor  the  demons  with  their  artfulness, 
can  penetrate  its  sanctuary  nor  read  its 
thoughts,  nor  change  its  inclinations,  if  it 
does  not  of  itself  freely  consent.  God  alone 
knows  the  secret  of  its  strength. 

If  the  seas  become  violently  agitated,  en- 
veloping with  their  great  waves  the  utmost 
limits  of  the  earth  and  raising  against  the 
very  heavens  the  foam  of  their  billows,  fill- 
ing the  abyss  with  the  roar  of  their  turbu- 
lent commotions;  if  empires  fall  and  king- 
doms perish  and  the  moral,  religious  and 
political  world  becomes  wrapped  in  the 
violent  whirlwind  of  human  passions  that 
seem  to  drag  in  their  wake  all  that  is  most 
sacred  on  earth — the  innocence  of  the  up- 
right heart,  the  sanctity  of  marriage  and  the 

[6] 


Let  Toothing  Trouble  Thee 

hearth — and  threaten  even  to  destroy  God's 
Holy  Church  and  her  sublime  doctrine,  yet 

Let  nothing  trouble  thee, 
Let  nothing  affright  thee; 

for  all  that  happens  in  heaven  and  upon 
earth,  the  mutations  of  the  physical  world  as 
well  as  the  disturbances  of  men's  moral 
nature,  the  wreck  of  cities  and  the  ruin  of 
nations — all  are  foreseen  by  God,  permitted 
or  ordained  by  an  all-wise  Providence, 
Who  knows  how  to  direct  all  things  to  His 
greater  honor  and  glory  and  the  welfare  of 
His  chosen  ones. 

And  if  individuals  and  nations  possessed 
by  an  insane  giddiness  rush  blindly  on 
towards  the  precipice,  carried,  as  it  were, 
on  the  wings  of  frightful  fatalism,  yet 

Let  nothing  trouble  thee, 
Let  nothing  affright  thee; 

because  men  and  nations  are  carried  in  the 
arms  of  a  provident  God,  Who  is  all  justice, 
love  and  wisdom.  As  God  is  love,  He  di- 
rects all  to  the  welfare  of  His  elect  and  to 


[7] 


Sm'nt  Teresa's 

show  the  splendor  of  His  glory.  As  God 
is  justice,  He  allows  nations  to  be  fre- 
quently bathed  in  blood  so  that  they  may  be 
purified  from  their  apostasies  and  rise 
afterwards  rejuvenated  and  turn  to  the  en- 
joyment of  days  full  of  peace  and  pros- 
perity. As  wisdom,  God  brings  forth  good 
from  evil,  from  chaos  and  confusion  order 
and  harmony;  He  makes  light  to  shine  from 
darkness  and  from  the  depths  of  corruption 
He  causes  to  spring  forth  great  and  heroic 
virtues. 


[8] 


All  things  are  passing; 
Only  God  is  changeless. 

Continual   change    of   everything   created.  .  .  .Man's 

apostasy .  .  .  .God's  threat.  .  .  .Scripture 

texts ....  Divine  immutability. 

Let  nothing  trouble  theef 
Let  nothing  affright  thee; 

because 

All  things  are  passing; 
Only  God  is  changeless. 

LL  things  are  passing  here  below;  the 
world  is  a  place  of  continual  change. 
Glory  and  ignominy,  our  sweetest 
joys,  our  deepest  sorrows,  all  pass  away 
hand  in  hand.  Passing  are  the  violent 
passions  that  vanish  like  smoke,  as  also 
the  greatest  virtues,  which  transfer  them- 
selves to  heaven.  Childhood  passes  with  its 
joys,  youth  with  its  illusions,  old  age  with 

[9] 


Saint  Teresa's 

its  sorrows,  and  even  death  with  its  gloomy 
shadows  passes  away.  Childhood  develops 
into  youth,  youth  into  old  age  and  old  age 
becomes  eclipsed  in  death;  and  death 
changes  into  a  glorious  transformation  of 
man,  who  from  being  terrestrial  becomes 
celestial,  from  temporal  becomes  eternal. 

In  this  world  everything  is  changeable; 
nations  change  and  cities  change  just  as  men 
change,  because  they  and  all  else  are  car- 
ried away  on  the  wings  of  time. 

Here  below,  even  the  loftiest  virtues  are 
insecure,  while  the  greatest  falls  are  never 
hopeless.  Samson,  with  all  his  strength, 
was  vanquished;  David,  the  saintly  king, 
stained  his  hands  with  innocent  blood; 
Solomon,  with  all  his  wisdom,  committed 
the  grossest  and  most  detestable  errors; 
Judas,  the  apostle,  became  a  traitor,  an 
apostate  and  a  blasphemer  against  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Divine  grace  made  of  Manasses, 
the  abominable,  the  zealous  and  penitent 
King  of  Judea;  the  famous  sinner  of  Mag- 
dala  God  made  the  model  for  all  mystical 

[10] 


Only  God  Is  Changeless 

souls,  and  one  of  the  hearts  that  have  fol- 
lowed Jesus  Christ  with  greatest  intensity 
and  purity  of  love;  the  first  and  foremost 
persecutor  of  Christians  God  made  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles;  Saint  Augustine, 
heretical  and  dissolute,  God  made  the 
greatest  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Church. 

The  angels  who  shone  as  the  very  stars 
of  heaven,  fell;  and  to  take  their  places  rise 
those  who  lay  in  sin's  abomination.  The 
wise  stumble  while  the  ignorant  walk  in 
paths  of  light.  Here  below  everything  is 
insecure;  no  one  can  be  proclaimd  a  Saint 
nor  stigmatized  a  reprobate;  for  man  with 
all  his  defects  or  his  virtues  is  more  change- 
able than  the  winds.  We  have  seen  many 
fallen  monarchs;  kings  without  sceptre  and 
without  crown;  poverty-stricken  magnates; 
generals  without  a  sword;  lofty  virtues 
dragging  themselves  through  the  mire; 
virgins  without  modesty;  the  wise  grown 
stupid;  priests  who  offered  up  the  most 
sacred  sacrifices  with  unclean  hands;  sin- 

[ii] 


Saint  Teresa's 

ners  of  the  darkest  guilt  repentant  and 
forgiven. 

The  lyre  of  poets  is  out  of  tune  and 
harsh;  the  intelligence  of  philosophers 
grows  stupid;  inspiration  vanishes  and  the 
eloquence  of  the  rhetorician  becomes  child- 
ish chatter.  Yea,  even  innocence  itself 
tires  of  singing  its  canticles  of  love,  because 
here,  in  time, 

All  things  are  passing; 

and  we  too  must  pass  away  with  time  and 
its  changes. 

Sooner  or  later  the  poor  man's  hut  and 
the  palace  of  the  magnate  must  crumble — 
as  has  happened  to  the  pyramids  of  Egypt, 
the  walls  of  Ninive  and  the  temples  of 
Memphis. 

Nations  pass  away,  together  with  their 
laws;  "the  tribes  of  earth  pass  away  with 
their  patriarchs,  republics  with  their  mag- 
istrates, monarchies  with  their  kings  and 
empires  with  their  rulers"  (Discourse  of 
Donoso  Cortes  on  the  Bible),  armies  with 

[12] 


Only  God  Is  Changeless 

their  generals,  science  with  its  doctors  and 
false  religions  with  their  pretentious  wor- 
ship. 

All  the  grandeur  of  earth  is  like  a  tiny 
grain  of  sand  which,  swept  by  the  wind 
from  its  shores,  leaves  no  memory  or  trace 
of  the  place  it  once  occupied. 

Men  who  but  yesterday  strutted  noisily 
through  the  world,  dazzling  with  the  splen- 
dor of  their  glory,  today  lie  silent  and  for- 
gotten in  the  dust. 

Where  now  are  the  immense  possessions 
of  Asuerus,  who  from  Susa  dictated  laws  to 
the  world,  and  enforced  them  at  the  edge  of 
the  swords  of  his  generals? 

What  has  become  of  Xerxes'  vast  posses- 
sions which  covered  whole  provinces  with 
their  innumerable  battalions?  And  of  the 
empire  of  Alexander,  who  dragged  the  cap- 
tive kings  of  nations  tied  to  his  triumphal 
chariot — what  remains?  And  where  is  the 
fabulous  wealth  of  Croesus,  the  money  king 
of  antiquity?  And  the  incomparable  mon- 

[13] 


Saint  Teresa's 

archy  of  Augustus,  and  the  boundless  ambi- 
tions of  Pompey,  and  the  hideous  vices  of 
Nero  and  Caligula?  All  things  are  pass- 
ing; men  with  their  glories  and  their  ig- 
nominies; Babylon,  the  glory  of  nations 
(Isaiah  xiii,  19)  ;  Carthage,  the  rival  of 
Rome;  Argos,  the  illustrious;  Thebes,  the 
city  of  a  hundred  gates  and  a  thousand 
dominions;  Corinth,  the  beautiful;  Athens, 
the  mother  of  arts  and  master  of  scholars; 
Rome,  the  conqueror;  Jerusalem,  the  Holy 
City;  Saguntum,  the  valiant,  and  Nu- 
mantia,  the  invincible. 

Man  has  no  power  to  check  the  change 
of  things.  Of  no  avail  to  Ninive  were  her 
high  walls,  neither  to  Memphis  her  learned 
priests,  nor  to  Sardis  her  world-famous 
opulence,  nor  to  Tyre  her  irresistible  fleets, 
with  their  skilful  admirals;  nor  to  Troy  her 
legendary  heroes ;  nor  to  Athens  the  learned 
scholars  of  her  Areopagus;  nor  to  Rome 
her  invincible  warriors  and  her  proud  Sen- 
ate; nor  to  Jerusalem  her  august  temple, 
nor  her  majestic  high  priests,  nor  her  code 

[14] 


Only  God  Is  Changeless 

of  holy  laws,  nor  her  inspired  prophets 
who  foretold  her  misfortunes.  The  same 
holds  true  for  modern  nations,  with  the 
bayonets  of  their  soldiers  and  the  bombs  of 
their  artillery;  the  cunning  of  their  diplo- 
mats, and  the  eloquence  of  their  orators, 
and  the  wisdom  of  their  statesmen.  Great 
as  our  present-day  arrogance  and  power 
may  be,  all  this  will  pass  away,  as  all  that 
was  before  has  passed  away  and  all  that  is 
to  come,  urged  onward  by  the  impulse  of  a 
double  force;  that  of  time  which  changes 
all  things,  and  that  of  divine  justice  which 
punishes  with  overwhelming  calamities  the 
sins  of  the  nations. 

Modern  nations,  profunde  peccaverunt, 
have  sinned  deeply  (Osee,  IX,  9).  In  their 
official  life  they  have  flung  a  challenge  in 
the  face  of  God,  or  at  any  rate  have  bade 
Him  sleep  peacefully  on  the  confines  of 
eternity,  for  they  can  well  do  without  Him. 
They  have  committed  the  sin  of  theft  and 
sacrilege,  and  the  majority  of  them  person- 
ally are  constantly  guilty  of  hateful  sins, 

[15] 


Saint  Teresa's 


some  even  of  the  frightful  sin  of  blasphemy 
against  the  Holy  Ghost.  But  God  has 
pledged  Himself  on  His  word  to  scatter  the 
ashes  of  those  who  forsake  Him  to  follow 
man. 

By  the  mouth  of  Isaias  He  said  :  "Cursed 
be  the  man  who,  withdrawing  his  heart 
from  God,  places  his  confidence  in  crea- 
tures." And  Jesus  smote  human  presump- 
tion with  this  terrible  threat:  "I  am  the 
corner  stone;  and  'whosoever  shall  fall  on 
this  stone  shall  be  broken,  but  on  whomso- 
ever it  shall  fall,  it  shall  grind  him  to 
powder'"  (Matthew  xxi,  44).  But  if  all 
created  things  pass  away,  the  word  of  God 
which  threatens  is  eternal,  and  it  is  clear. 
It  will  never  fail  or  be  given  the  lie.  Man 
may  doubt  and  even  deny  it  in  a  moment 
of  weakness  and  folly;  but  time,  and  espe- 
cially eternity,  will  see  it  ratified.  Today 
we  are  witnessing  a  spectacle  of  horror 
never  equaled  before.  Man,  withdrawing 
his  heart  from  God,  has  placed  his  confi- 
dence in  self,  in  his  own  right  arm  and  in 
his  prodigious  inventions. 

[16] 


Only  God  Is  Changeless 

Yet  this  is  not  so  new  in  the  world,  at 
least  as  regards  the  spirit  that  animates  it. 
The  amazing  fact  is  that  man  should  have 
resolutely  risen  up  against  Jesus  Christ,  the 
true  Corner  Stone,  Who  has  sustained  dur- 
ing so  many  ages  the  spiritual  and  moral 
edifice  of  Europe.  They  do  not  want  Him 
in  society  or  in  politics;  in  peace  or  in  war; 
in  the  home  or  in  the  school.  They  have 
bade  Him  go,  they  have  told  Him  that  they 
do  not  need  Him.  They  have  fallen  against 
the  Corner  Stone  and  they  will  be  broken 
to  pieces;  this  stone  will  fall  upon  them  to 
grind  them  and  destroy  their  deeds,  and 
scatter  their  dust  upon  the  winds.  For  God 
has  so  promised:  "Heaven  and  earth  shall 
pass  away,  but  My  words  shall  not  pass 
away"  (Mark  xiii,  31). 

This  prophecy  hovers  over  all  human 
contentions  and  strivings.  Perhaps  we  shall 
all  find  ourselves  enveloped  in  a  dense 
moral  whirlwind;  the  high  and  the  low, 
those  at  the  right  hand  and  at  the  left;  those 
who  are  within  the  sanctuary  and  those 

[17] 


Saint  Teresa's 

who  are  without;  we  who  are  consecrated 
to  the  service  of  the  altar  and  they  who 
serve  at  the  throne.  One  swift  breath  of 
divine  fate  is  enough  to  change  the  whole 
political  map  of  Europe.  These  are  not 
the  times  when  anything  whatsoever  is  se- 
cure. Our  flag — may  it  not  be  torn  to 
shreds  by  the  sword  of  some  conqueror?  and 
our  sumptuous  cathedrals  laid  in  ruins  and 
the  palaces  of  our  magnates  become  the 
dwellings  of  birds  of  prey?  Because  now 
as  ever, 

All  things  are  passing, 

Yet  in  spite  of  the  rapidity  with  which  all 
that  has  ever  existed  has  passed  away, 

God  is  changeless. 

He  is  the  same  as  He  was  yesterday,  as 
He  is  today  and  will  be  forever.  He  is  the 
same  God  Who  created  the  world  out  of 
nothing,  and  placed  in  heavenly  order  the 
stars  of  the  morning;  Who  made  with  the 
sun  the  high  noon  and  the  dawn;  the  same 
Who  formed  the  first  man  from  dust  and 

[18] 


Only  God  Is  Changeless 

Who  conversed  with  Adam  and  Eve  in 
Paradise;  the  same  Who  made  manifest  the 
Law  on  Sinai;  Who  died  on  Calvary;  Who 
dwells  in  our  tabernacles  and  within  our 
very  souls,  counting  the  throbbings  of  our 
heart,  and  bestowing  upon  all  His  warmth 
and  life,  and  the  breath  with  which  we  pro- 
nounce His  adorable  name. 

God  presides  over  all  changes,  but  He 
Himself  does  not  change  or  alter  His 
thoughts.  He  listens  to  the  prayer  of  the 
penitent,  to  the  sigh  of  the  unfortunate;  to 
the  sweet  canticle  of  innocence ;  yea,  and  to 
the  horrible  blasphemy  of  the  apostate;  but 
He  is  changeless;  and  He  never  is  in  haste. 

In  the  inmost  recesses  of  His  divine  heart 
He  inscribes  the  names  of  those  who  bless 
Him;  and  in  the  book  of  infinite  justice  He 
writes  the  names  of  those  who  blaspheme 
Him. 

Heaven  becomes  filled  with  Saints  and 
hell  receives  its  reprobates;  God  bestows 
His  blessings  on  those  who  love  Him  and 
sends  His  chastisements  upon  those  who  re- 

[19] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo^Mar\ 

fuse  to  adore  Him;  He  pardons  the  repent- 
ant sinner,  protects  and  rewards  the  Saints, 
whilst  chastising  the  wicked.  But  He  is 
always  the  same  God  whether  He  chastises 
as  Judge  or  caresses  as  Father. 

O!  my  God!  I  delight  in  meditating 
upon  the  words  of  Thy  prophet:  "In  the 
beginning,  O  Lord,  Thou  foundest  the 
earth ;  and  the  heavens  are  the  works  of  Thy 
hands.  They  shall  perish,  but  Thou  re- 
mainest;  and  all  of  them  shall  grow  old 
like  a  garment;  and  as  a  vesture  Thou  shalt 
change  them  and  they  shall  be  changed. 
But  Thou  art  always  the  selfsame  and  Thy 
years  shall  not  fail."  (Psalm  ci,  26-28.) 
Thou,  O  God,  art  as  unchangeable  as  the 
eternity  which  is  Thy  throne  and  dwelling. 
Thou  alone  art  eternal.  Thou  alone  dost 
neither  die  nor  tire,  nor  change.  Outside 
of  Thee, 

All  things  are  passing, 
but  Thyself— 

O  God,  Thou  art  changeless. 
[20] 


Patience,  gains  all  things. 

The  power  oj  patience ....  Divine  patience .... 
Christian  patience ....  Human  patience. 

E  truly  Christian  soul  possesses  a  cer- 
tain  invincible  virtue  which,  in  the 
midst  of  the  continual  changes  of  life 
and  the  instability  of  the  human  heart,  gives 
it  courage  to  overcome  all  obstacles,  and  in 
times  of  prosperity  lifts  it  above  all  that  is 
transitory,  drawing  it  to  God,  the  immut- 
able and  eternal.  This  powerful  virtue  is 
patience,  whose  grandeur  was  sung  by  our 
great  poet  in  this  forceful  phrase: 

Patience  gains  all  things. 

The  world  knows  not  how  to  appreciate 
all  this  sublime  thought,  because  it  is  not 
easy  for  it  to  understand  the  supernatural 
strength  of  so  humble  a  virtue,  which  seem- 
ingly lies  in  listless  repose,  but  yet  rules  the 

[21] 


Saint  Teresa's 

world.  It  holds  the  secret  of  the  soul's 
strength  as  much  in  the  philosophic  order 
as  in  the  Christian.  It  is  well  deserving  the 
praise  of  our  Holy  Doctor.  Ah!  when  the 
Saint  speaks,  there  spring  from  her  angelic 
lips  the  most  sublime  truths  of  Christian 
philosophy,  wrapped  in  the  purest  and 
most  delicate  affections  of  an  ardent  soul,  of 

"An  enamored  heart,  that  has  fixed 
its  thoughts  on  God  alone." 

Patience  is  a  passive  virtue,  yet  it  out- 
matches the  strength  of  the  most  powerful 
adversary,  and  develops  and  accumulates  it 
within  the  heart  of  him  who  possesses  it. 
Its  peculiar  efficacy  consists,  not  in  force- 
fully vanquishing  the  enemy,  but  in  wear- 
ing out  his  strength.  The  patient  heart 
never  exerts  direct  resistance,  but  allows  the 
enemy  to  spend  his  energy  and  strength  use- 
lessly. The  tender  sapling  that  grows  be- 
side the  stream  does  not  put  forth  a  stub- 
born resistance  to  the  great  sweep  of  waters, 
but  rather  bends  patiently,  so  that  they  may 

[22] 


Patience  Gains  All  Things 

pass  around  it  and  over  it;  and  afterwards 
it  rises  up  again  full  of  life  and  vigor.  Thus 
does  the  patient  man  behave. 

But  here,  as  in  everything  else,  we  may 
easily  go  to  extremes.  Passiveness  of  spirit 
in  the  face  of  disappointments  and  the  tides 
of  human  passions  can  be  sublime  and  vir- 
tuous, or  it  may  degenerate  and  be  low  and 
degrading. 

There  are  three  kinds  of  patience,  divine 
patience,  human  patience,  and  Christian 
patience — which  is  half  divine  and  half 
human. 

An  underling  of  the  high  priests'  court 
smote  the  adorable  face  of  Jesus  Christ 
with  his  fist,  and  the  gentle  Jesus  held  his 
peace.  They  stripped  Him  of  His  gar- 
ments before  a  vile  rabble  and  rent  His 
sacred  flesh  with  a  cruel  scourge,  yet  the 
Son  of  God  uttered  no  complaint.  Now,  at 
this  very  moment,  men,  it  seems,  have  de- 
clared war  against  God;  His  Holy  Name 
is  hardly  spoken  but  to  be  outraged  and  in- 
sulted, now  by  the  loathsome  blasphemy  of 

[23] 


Sm'nt  Teresa's 

the  tavern,  now  by  the  cultured  and  pol- 
ished blasphemy  of  the  drawing  room;  and 
yet  God  is  silent.  God  need  not  hurry; 
God  has  patience.  Behold  divine  patience. 

Slaves  without  uttering  a  word  obey  at 
the  crack  of  their  master's  whip.  In  demor- 
alized cities  thousands  of  strong,  vigorous 
men  patiently  bend  under  the  heavy  chains 
of  oppression,  by  which  a  harsh  master  has 
bound  them.  Behold  human  patience. 

Blessed  Job,  having  fallen  from  the 
height  of  fortune  to  the  depth  of  misery, 
felt  no  repining  towards  God  or  indigna- 
tion towards  man,  but  with  holy  resigna- 
tion he  was  content  to  scrape  his  sores  with 
a  potsherd.  Behold  the  perfect  model  of 
Christian  patience,  practiced  by  all  of 
God's  elect,  who,  before  and  after  Jesus 
Christ,  have  known  how  to  suffer  hero- 
ically. 

Patience,  when  purely  human,  is  never 
elevating,  and  often  degrading.  The  ills 
that  result  to  individuals  and  nations 
through  that  stoic  passiveness  which  de- 

[24] 


Patience  Gains  All  Things 

prives  them  of  the  energy  needful  to  free 
themselves  from  their  ignominious  slavery, 
cannot  be  sufficiently  deplored.  On  the 
contrary,  divine  and  Christian  patience  is 
sublime  and  exalting,  because  it  is  prac- 
ticed in  imitation  of  Jesus  Christ. 

As  to  God's  patience,  it  manifests  His 
goodness  adequately,  for  by  it  He  bears 
with  the  sinner  in  order  that  he  be  con- 
verted. Neither  men  nor  angels  will  ever 
understand  the  sublime  grandeur  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  His  infinite  patience.  He  seems 
greater  to  me  in  the  Praetorium  than  in  the 
mansions  of  eternity,  when  with  the  Eternal 
Father  He  traced  the  paths  of  light  and 
marked  the  limits  of  the  sea.  Job  appears 
to  me  more  radiant  when,  seated  on  his 
dunghill  and  forsaken  by  all,  he  sang  in 
sublime  accents  of  patient  sorrow,  than 
when  he  sat  at  home,  loved  by  his  sons, 
blessed  by  his  friends  and  surrounded  with 
oriental  opulence. 

These  three  kinds  of  patience  produce 
different  effects  because  they  have  different 
causes. 

[25] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\-Mar\ 

Jesus,  as  God,  is  omnipotent;  as  man  He 
had  at  His  command  millions  of  powerful 
angels,  and  yet  He  allowed  Himself  to  be 
seized  and  bound  by  a  crowd  of  ruffians. 
Why  does  omnipotence  veil  itself  before 
man's  weakness?  In  order  that  this  weak- 
ness may  become  omnipotent  If  God  had 
not  been  patient  with  the  frailty  of  His  two 
first  creatures,  the  whole  human  race  would 
have  become  extinct  in  its  very  beginning. 
If  Jesus  Christ  had  not  had  patience  to  suf- 
fer, the  human  race  would  never  have  been 
saved.  Lucifer  would  have  triumphed  in 
his  plan  of  disconcerting  the  harmonies  of 
creation,  and  heaven  would  not  be  filled 
with  saints.  God  has  had  patience  because 
He  loves  man.  And  this  divine  patience 
has  gained  all  things:  it  has  maintained  the 
first  plan  of  creation  in  spite  of  human  pre- 
varication; it  has  humbled  Lucifer  and 
peopled  the  earth  with  men  and  heaven 
with  saints. 

The  saintly  Job,  who  so  many  centuries 
before  Jesus  Christ  had  the  glory  of  being 

[26] 


Patience  Gains  All  Things 

the  most  perfect  personification  of  patience, 
certainly  had  no  power  to  prevent  his 
enemies  from  insulting  him  in  his  misfor- 
tune or  to  impede  Satan  from  ill-treating 
his  body,  seizing  his  goods  and  killing  his 
beloved  sons;  but  he  did  have  the  power  to 
rise  above  all  these  misfortunes  and  amid 
them  to  preserve  peace  of  soul.  He  blessed 
God  the  same  in  adversity  as  in  prosperity. 
He  raised  his  heart  so  high  above  the  world 
that  it  could  not  be  sullied  by  the  dust  of 
earth.  He  suffered  patiently  not  because 
he  did  not  feel  his  woes,  but  because  he  had 
placed  his  innocence  in  the  hands  of  God, 
Who  has  promised  to  protect  those  who  con- 
fide in  Him  alone.  And  for  this  reason, 
while  men  and  the  devil  made  a  horrible 
mockery  of  his  body  and  of  all  he  most  es- 
teemed, the  heart  of  this  Saint  of  patience 
reposed  peacefully  within  the  arms  of  God 
where  it  had  been  deposited  by  faith  and 
hope.  All  truly  Christian  souls  know  how 
to  act  as  did  the  patient  Patriarch  of  the 
Land  of  Hus. 

[27] 


Saint  Teresa's 


I  realize  that  to  unbelievers  and  to 
wasted  worldly  hearts  this  language  is  un- 
intelligible —  a  confusion  of  words  without 
sense;  but  for  us  who  have  the  immense 
happiness  of  being  conscious  of  the  truths 
of  our  faith,  it  is  a  luminous  doctrine  over- 
flowing with  consolation.  It  is  not  easy  for 
the  unbelieving  heart  to  understand  Chris- 
tian truths,  if  it  does  not  strive  to  love  them. 
It  is  a  profound  truth,  drawn  from  attentive 
observation  of  human  nature,  that  "one 
single  spark  of  love  enclosed  within  a  heart, 
sheds  more  light  than  the  perusal  of  a  hun- 
dred philosophical  volumes." 

The  difference  between  the  patience  of 
the  Idumaean  Patriarch,  and  consequently 
of  Christianity,  and  the  resignation  of  the 
slave  and  the  man  without  faith  or  belief 
is  this:  the  just  man  suffers  without  com- 
plaint because  he  knows  that  God  loves 
him,  will  defend  him  and  reward  with 
eternal  glory  his  brief  sufferings.  The 
slave  suffers  resignedly  because  he  has  lost 
the  sense  of  his  own  dignity,  or  the  hope  of 

[28] 


Patience  Gains  All  Things 

being  respected  by  the  rest  of  mankind.  He 
has  not  the  energy  to  shake  off  his  spiritual 
chains  and  break  them  to  pieces  in  the  face 
of  his  oppressors;  he  has  raised  his  eyes  to 
heaven,  but  it  seemed  to  him  a  brazen  arch 
above  him.  He  can  nowhere  perceive  signs 
of  a  wise  and  just  Providence,  Who  watches 
the  same  over  the  poor  and  feeble  as  over 
the  rich  and  powerful,  and  Who,  sooner  or 
later,  in  time  or  in  eternity,  will  cause  the 
injustice  sanctioned  by  men  to  be  set  right 
and  to  disappear.  He  does  not  know  that 
he  is  the  adopted  son  of  God,  with  a  divine 
right  to  eternal  glory.  He  does  not  realize 
that  this  is  but  a  transitory  life,  a  stepping 
stone  to  eternal  life,  which  is  gained  by  suf- 
fering. If  he  looks  about,  he  beholds  him- 
self poor,  weak  and  alone,  with  an  endless 
chain  of  duties  to  perform  and  without  any 
rights  which  his  fellow  men  are  bound  to 
respect;  he  has  believed  that  the  law  which 
rules  the  world  and  assigns  each  one's  des- 
tiny is  power,  and  only  power;  he  feels  his 
lot  to  be  a  product  of  frightful  fatalism. 

[29] 


Saint  Teresa's 

He  who  feels  thus  weak  does  not  want  to 
fight,  or  pray,  or  hope.  He  buries  his  brow 
in  the  dust  as  if  to  conceal  his  shame. 

This  patience  is  degrading;  it  slays  all 
the  nobler  energies  of  the  soul;  whilst  in 
human  society  it  causes  the  ruin  of  nations. 
For  the  general  insensibility  of  the  indi- 
viduals necessarily  produces  social  and  po- 
litical inanition.  Society  is  what  the  ma- 
jority of  the  individuals  who  compose  it 
and  form  its  members  are. 

When  the  individuals  suffer  with  only 
stoical  patience  the  lash  of  their  masters, 
be  it  wielded  by  a  proud  Roman  of  the  time 
of  Augustus,  or  in  our  times  by  the  hand  of 
some  petty  king,  or  a  clever  trickster  who 
boasts  the  title  of  a  party  leader;  when  the 
majority  of  the  individuals  forming  the 
active  part  of  society  have  an  ignoble  pa- 
tience and  mutely  bear  their  yoke,  then  the 
nation  also  will  soon  allow  her  honor  to  be 
smirched,  history  to  be  caricatured,  and 
will  even  patiently  submit  to  having  her 
flag  trampled  under  foot  by  some  haughty 

[30] 


Patience  Gains  All  Things 

conqueror.  It  is  this  merely  stoical  patience 
practiced  by  citizens,  which  produces  inert- 
ness and  debility  in  nations. 

This  torpid  patience  also  gains  all  things, 
but  in  the  way  of  evil.  It  was  not  such  pa- 
tience that  received  the  praise  of  our  great 
Doctor  and  Saint  of  Avila,  because  it  be- 
littles and  degrades  men  and  nations.  The 
Saint  sang  only  of  the  sublime  and  great 
patience  of  the  Christian,  which  uplifts  the 
soul  from  earth  to  heaven. 

The  patience  that  inspired  holy  Mother 
St.  Teresa  is  not  a  trait  of  the  enfeebled 
spirit,  but  of  the  lofty  soul.  It  is  the  kind 
that  gives  strength  to  noble,  Christian 
hearts,  who,  feeling  themselves  greater  than 
any  misfortune,  know  how  to  rise  above  all 
their  trials. 

Christian  patience  bears  all  ills,  yea,  even 
if  men  might  buffet  and  spit  upon  our 
brow;  but  it  will  not  allow  them  to  wound 
or  sully  our  heart,  because  it  teaches  us  to 
raise  it  above  the  reach  of  the  darts  of  envy 
and  the  poison  thrusts  of  slander. 

[31] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Marl{ 

Within  this  precious  virtue,  unknown  to 
the  profane  spirit,  lies  the  secret  of  the 
strength  of  the  just.  It  was  this  passive, 
humble  and  long-suffering  virtue  which, 
finally  conquering  and  triumphing  over  all 
suffering,  inspired  our  Holy  Mother  in  life 
and  death,  and  which,  as  we  will  prove, 
effectively. 

Gains  all  things. 


[32] 


Patience  and  human  reason ....  The  heart  of  man  like 

unto  the  heart  of  God. .  .  .It  delights  in  spreading 

good ....  Patience   opens  the    way ....  Wrath   closes 

it .  .  Adorable  delights  oj  trusting  the 

Divine  Goodness. 

/^T  IS  not  necessary  to  rise  to  the  lofty 
^  /  heights  of  mystical  contemplation,  in 
order  to  understand  the  vast  amount 
of  virtue  contained  in  patience.  The  phil- 
osophers of  antiquity,  even  without  being 
enlightened  by  faith,  believed  that  in  pa- 
tience and  moderation  were  to  be  found  all 
man's  practical  knowledge.  "Philosophy," 
says  the  illustrious  Count  de  Maistre,  "has 
long  since  learned  that  all  man's  science  is 
contained  in  these  two  words:  Sustine  et 
abstine — suffer  and  abstain."  (Conferences 
of  St.  Petersburg,  I.) 

It  is  not  strange  that  philosophers  should 
have  understood  the  excellence  of  patience, 
for,  although  this  emanates  from  the  clear 

[33] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\-Mar\ 

light  that  religion  sheds  upon  it,  and  from 
the  supernatural  power  it  communicates, 
yet  considering  this  virtue  only  as  a  natural 
gift,  as  long  as  it  is  not  degrading  to  human 
nature  like  the  brutish  insensibility  of  the 
slave,  it  contains  something  of  loftiness,  and 
is  a  sign  of  noble  spirit.  Not  to  be  down- 
cast by  the  greatest  misfortunes,  but  to  en- 
dure them  with  serenity  of  soul,  is  the  prop- 
erty of  a  valiant  heart.  To  know  how  to  be 
silent  and  suffer  patiently  amid  unfavorable 
circumstances  which  it  would  be  useless  or 
even  dangerous  to  resist — to  have  patience 
whilst  awaiting  an  opportunity  for  over- 
coming an  enemy — this  may  sometimes  be 
consummate  prudence  and  at  other  times 
artful  villainy;  but  it  is  always  the  height 
of  practical  judgment. 

Even  considering  patience  only  as  the 
daughter  of  prudence  and  craftiness,  it  is 
still  one  among  the  greatest  of  human 
powers.  What  cannot  be  obtained  through 
patience,  will  never  be  gained  either  by 
wisdom  or  strength  without  it.  The  king- 

[34] 


Delights  of  Trusting  Divine  Goodness 

dom  of  heaven  belongs  to  the  poor  of  spirit, 
but  the  dominion  of  the  world  belongs  to 
the  astute  and  the  prudent  according  to  the 
flesh.  "He  is  not  fit  to  reign  who  knows  not 
how  to  dissemble"  have  said  all  the  dis- 
ciples of  Machiavelli.  The  best  and  only 
honest  way  of  dissembling  is  to  suffer  the 
importunities  of  mankind;  and  bearing 
with  mankind  is  the  most  difficult  part  of 
patience. 

Purely  natural  patience  and  dissimula- 
tion are  the  offspring  of  cunning  and  pru- 
dence, and  these  are  the  masters  of  the 
world.  Human  wisdom  has  been  able  to 
teach  nothing  more  practical  to  mankind, 
than  to  patiently  bide  one's  time. 

If  St.  Teresa  of  Jesus  did  not  wear  upon 
her  brow  the  beautiful  aureole  of  divinely 
infused  science,  and  considering  her  only 
as  a  philosopher,  she  could  still  take  her 
place  among  the  greatest  teachers  of  even 
human  wisdom.  Without  having  read  the 
works  of  philosophers,  she  agreed  with 
them  in  her  great  esteem  for  patience,  and 

[35] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

she  expressed  it  in  the  beautiful  canticle 
upon  which  we  are  meditating,  with  greater 
perfection  and  beauty  than  they  in  their 
academical  discourses. 

The  philosophers  said  that  in  modera- 
tion and  patience  was  included  all  that  man 
can  know  or  practice  in  regard  to  virtue. 
And  our  Holy  Mother,  without  attribut- 
ing to  this  class  either  true  wisdom  or  vir- 
tue, with  perfect  exactitude  and  beauty 
sang: 

Patience  gains  all  things. 

Yet  the  mind  of  the  great  Saint  beheld 
wider  horizons  than  those  of  frail  human 
reason.  When  she  sang  thus,  she  was  think- 
ing of  heaven  and  of  earth,  of  God  and 
man,  of  divine  and  human  verities  and 
dispensations.  She  saw  that  equally  in  the 
attainment  of  heaven  and  in  treating  with 
human  nature,  patience  is  the  great  virtue 
which  gains  all  things.  To  the  mind  of  my 
Mother  patience  is  not  the  result  of  hu- 
man sagacity,  nor  does  it  energize  accord- 

[36] 


Delights  of  Trusting  Divine  Goodness 

ing  to  human  calculations;  it  is  the  gentle 
daughter  of  heaven,  a  supernatural  virtue, 
a  golden  key  with  which  we  open  all  of 
God's  treasuries  and  man's  capabilities. 

Patience  gains  all  things  from  God.  God 
feels  ineffable  sympathy  for  those  who  suf- 
fer patiently.  For  them  He  reserves  all  the 
graces  and  all  the  tenderness  of  His  Divine 
Heart.  Jesus  Christ  called  the  peaceful  the 
sons  of  God.  On  the  other  hand,  the  wrath- 
ful are  insupportable  to  Him.  In  this,  as  in 
everything  else,  there  is  a  great  likeness  be- 
tween the  heart  of  God  and  the  human 
heart,  in  so  much  as  the  latter  is  a  source  of 
good;  because  our  heart,  the  masterpiece 
of  creation,  is  a  copy  and  a  reflection  of  the 
heart  of  God.  This  is  why  they  both  have, 
in  a  manner,  similar  laws  of  attraction  and 
repulsion. 

All  who  are  truly  eminent  in  some  branch 
of  knowledge  or  order  of  perfection,  are  of- 
fended by  the  arrogance  of  mediocrities 
and  above  all  by  the  proud  nonentities  of 
that  branch  in  which  they  themselves  are 

[37] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'~Mar\ 

notable.  Presumptuous  ignorance,  arro- 
gant weakness  and  haughty  poverty  of 
mind  are  mortifying  and  offensive  to  the 
really  wise,  the  powerful  and  the  mentally 
rich.  On  the  other  hand,  the  greatest  de- 
light of  wealthy  men  of  noble  heart  is  to 
dry  the  tears  of  the  humble  poor;  and  it  is 
the  best  joy  of  the  powerful  to  protect  the 
feeble  and  helpless.  There  is  not  on  this 
earth  a  joy  to  be  compared  with  that  felt 
by  one  who  imparts  truth  and  love  to  an- 
other soul,  who  is  well  disposed  and  in  need 
of  God's  light  and  warmth.  In  this  holy 
joy  of  communion  with  other  souls,  is  found 
the  secret  inspiration  of  Christian  genius. 
St.  Teresa,  whilst  improvising  those  famous 
lyrics  of  hers,  into  which  she  poured  her 
saintly  heart,  found  inspiration  in  the 
thought  that  her  beloved  mother  would 
read  them  and  feel  "a  hidden  rapture,  be- 
cause these  sacred  doctrines  are  the  ones 
she  so  deeply  loves,  and  which  I  first 
learned  seated  on  her  lap  and  reclining  on 
her  breast."  The  poet,  overflowing  with 

[38] 


Delights  of  Trusting  Divine  Goodness 

enthusiasm,  writes  his  thoughts  with  the 
dream  that  the  world,  or  at  least  some  kin- 
dred souls,  will  read  them  and  feel  as  he 
feels.  The  orator  is  overcome  with  lofty 
emotions,  when  from  his  platform  he  com- 
municates to  thousands  of  souls  the  light  of 
truth  and  the  fire  of  love.  This  is  why 
kings  in  the  realm  of  speech  rejoice  more 
intimately  than  kings  of  nations.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  Solomon  would  not  be  as  happy 
during  forty  years  of  peaceful  reign,  sur- 
rounded by  all  the  pomp  and  splendor  of 
the  East,  as  was  St.  John  Chrysostom,  when 
with  Christian  eloquence  he  pronounced  his 
immortal  Homilies  before  auditors  which 
often  numbered  many  thousands.  The 
deepest  and  most  coveted  joy  of  the  apostle, 
poet,  artist,  indeed  of  all  truly  great  souls, 
is  to  cause  their  light  and  love  to  spread 
into  other  souls,  so  that  they  too  may  know 
and  venerate  that  which  they  themselves 
adore  of  moral  or  artistic  beauty. 

These  are  the  natural  laws  we  carry  im- 
printed deeply  in  our  souls;  similar  in  this 
regard  are  the  laws  of  God's  heart. 

[39] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

God  is  most  happy  and  joyful  because  He 
rests  in  His  own  center,  that  is,  within  Him- 
self, Who  is  All  Truth,  Beauty  and  Love. 
We  suffer  because  upon  earth  we  are  far 
away  from  our  true  home  and  native  des- 
tiny. This  is  why  we  weep  and,  as  the  poet 
expresses  it:  "Banished  angels  are  we,  that 
is  why  we  are  always  sad." 

As  beings  separated  from  our  true  cen- 
ter it  is  only  natural  that  many  evils  should 
befall  us;  because  evil  is  none  other  than 
the  privation  of  some  good  which  should 
be  ours.  It  would  indeed  be  a  miracle  if 
we  were  to  have  complete  happiness  here 
in  our  exile,  where  failure  and  weeping  are 
so  common.  This  is  why  we  were  born  into 
the  world  weeping;  and  weeping  we  shall 
die. 

All  the  good  that  consoles  us  and  the 
strength  that  sustains  us  can  come  to  us  only 
from  God,  Who  is  the  first  and  only  source 
of  goodness  and  life.  Hence  when  we  be- 
come impatient  against  the  adversity  which 
must  naturally  befall  us,  we  murmur 

[40] 


Delights  of  Trusting  Divine  Goodness 

against  an  all  wise  Providence,  Who  allows 
evil  and  privation  to  exist  in  the  world  pre- 
cisely because  the  world  is  not  heaven;  be- 
cause the  road  cannot  be  the  same  as  the 
goal,  and  because  the  time  of  trial  must  dif- 
fer from  the  time  of  recompense  and  repose. 
If  besides  being  impatient,  relying  upon 
ourselves  without  thought  of  God,  we  be- 
come militant  against  the  evils  which  God 
permits  and  think  we  are  sufficient  to  over- 
come them,  we  thereby  tell  Him,  indirectly, 
that  we  do  not  need  Him  to  sustain  us  and 
make  us  happy.  This  often  ends  by  our 
raising  against  Him  a  very  wall  of  opposi- 
tion. Herein  pagan  patience  is  the  off- 
spring of  pride.  God  also  is  offended  by 
his  arrogant,  weak  and  yet  haughty  crea- 
tures. That  is  why  we  displease  Him  when 
we  are  impatient  and  so  He  denies  us  the 
special  graces  of  His  Heart. 

Is  it  then  necessary  to  resign  ourselves 
with  indifference  to  all  manner  of  evils  that 
can  possibly  befall  us,  without  even  a  right 
to  breathe  a  sigh  or  articulate  a  single  word 

[41] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

of  pain?  Must  we  allow  ourselves  to  be 
dragged  down  by  disappointments  without 
showing  any  resistance  whatsoever — as  if 
we  were  beings  deprived  of  reason,  liberty 
and  strength?  Is  this  slothful  passivity  to 
be  mistaken  for  Christian  patience — the 
virtue  so  highly  commended  by  mystics  and 
ascetics,  and  especially  by  the  great  Doctor 
of  Carmel? 

No;  virtue  commands  us  to  suffer,  but  it 
also  forbids  us  to  succumb.  That  slothful 
indifference,  which  in  the  face  of  serious 
trials  despoils  man  of  all  his  energies,  dis- 
pleases God  no  less  than  the  proud  pre- 
sumption that  wishes  by  its  own  strength  to 
scale  the  very  heavens.  I  do  not  know  who 
offends  God  most,  those  who  whilst  suffer- 
ing want  to  question  omnipotence  for  the 
reason  of  their  sorrows,  or  those  who  suc- 
cumb in  adversity,  and  without  a  thought 
of  heaven  sink  down  to  the  very  dust. 

God  did  not  make  us  for  tears.  He 
would  not  have  formed  the  human  heart 
always  to  be  tied  down  to  the  earth.  He 

[42] 


Delights  of  Trusting  Divine  Goodness 

would  not  have  made  it  capable  of  such 
beautiful  sentiments  and  lofty  aspirations 
towards  the  infinite,  if  it  were  His  pleasure 
to  keep  it  forever  in  the  mire  of  grief.  His 
adorable  will  is  to  exalt  and  perfect  the  hu- 
man heart  by  His  intimate  communications 
with  man;  for  this  reason  He  made  our 
hearts  most  imperfect  but  yet  infinitely  per- 
fectible. "The  Lord  made  man  and  He 
enriches  him,"  says  Holy  Scripture. 

As  Sovereign  Artist,  He  feels  an  infinite 
delight  in  communicating  to  created  beings 
His  infinite  light,  His  immense  love  and 
His  incomprehensible  grace.  What  most 
annoys  Him  is  all  that  deprives  Him  of  this 
holy  intercourse  with  His  creatures.  In 
order  to  experience  this  divine  joy  He 
created  other  beings  like  unto  Himself  with 
whom  He  might  communicate:  this  is  the 
one  reason  for  which  angels  and  men  were 
created. 

Before  communicating  to  our  minds  the 
plenitude  of  His  love  and  light,  He  sub- 
jected us  to  a  test  so  that  we  ourselves  might 

[43] 


Saint  Teresas  Boo\-Mar\ 

co-operate  in  the  attainment  of  our  happi- 
ness. This  test  has  consisted  in  making  us 
feel,  during  a  certain  interval,  the  privation 
of  His  light  and  love,  so  that  we,  desiring 
it,  might  ask  for  the  gift  and  make  use  of 
our  free  will  in  accepting  it. 

The  angels  felt  this  privation  for  only  an 
instant.  Lucifer  and  his  companions  did 
not  resign  themselves,  thinking  their  natural 
perfection  sufficient  for  obtaining  it,  and 
God,  offended  by  such  arrogance,  cast  them 
headlong  into  the  abyss  of  hell. 

Eve,  through  her  womanly  eagerness, 
had  not  the  patience  to  wait  until  God 
should  disclose  to  her  all  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil.  She  dared  to  forestall  God's 
designs,  and  she  was  cast  out  of  Eden.  A 
portion  of  mankind  have  sinned  like  Luc- 
ifer, telling  God  they  do  not  need  Him  in 
order  to  attain  to  the  truth  in  an  undefined 
progress.  Others  complain,  like  Eve,  be- 
cause He  makes  them  wait  so  long,  op- 
pressed with  so  many  cares;  and  some  seem 
to  tell  Him  that  they  ignore  the  joys  of 

[44] 


Delights  of  Trusting  Divine  Goodness 

heaven ;  they  do  not  feel  the  courage  to 
strive  for  what  they  deem  so  difficult,  pre- 
ferring to  grovel  indolently  in  the  dust, 
bent  under  the  weight  of  their  anxieties, 
rather  than  to  tread  the  road  to  heaven  with 
its  toils  and  hardships. 

The  proud,  who,  like  Lucifer,  believe 
that  without  God  they  can  attain  to  the  en- 
joyment of  truth  and  satisfy  their  hearts,  as 
well  as  those  who,  like  Eve,  feel  the  time 
of  trial  too  long  and  follow  a  path  not 
marked  out  for  them  by  God,  for  attaining 
the  height  of  perfection  to  which  they  are 
destined,  as  also  they  who  renounce  the 
gifts  of  God  because  they  believe  them  un- 
necessary or  think  they  are  too  costly — all 
of  these  oppose  God's  purpose,  for  He 
created  heaven  and  earth  for  the  pleasure 
of  communicating  to  His  creatures  the  effu- 
sions of  His  divine  heart. 

But  the  souls  who,  when  they  feel  tired, 
do  not  succumb  nor  murmur  against  Prov- 
idence, but  the  more  afflicted  they  feel  the 
more  they  thirst  after  the  light  and  love  of 

[45] 


Saint  Teresa's 

heaven  and  the  more  eagerly  implore  it  of 
God;  those  who,  when  persecuted  and 
calumniated  feel  no  indignation  against 
men  and  do  not  defend  themselves  (unless 
obliged  to  by  reason  of  justice  or  charity), 
but  leave  everything  in  the  hands  of  Prov- 
idence, offering  up  all  their  trials  in  satis- 
faction for  their  sins — these  are  the  souls 
who  merit  the  sympathies  of  the  Divine 
Heart.  Souls  dearest  to  God  are  always 
those  who,  though  bowed  down  by  sorrow, 
do  not  allow  themselves  to  be  depressed, 
nor  place  their  confidence  in  creatures;  but, 
raising  their  eyes  towards  heaven,  hope  for 
consolation  only  from  God. 

God  has  made  the  human  heart  marvel- 
ously  perfectible,  because  He  made  it  capa- 
ble of  union  with  the  infinite;  and  when 
the  heart  becomes  dull  and  inactive,  He 
sends  disappointments  to  arouse  it,  and  to 
revive  its  yearning  for  heaven  and  its  hun- 
ger for  truth,  in  order  to  have  the  sovereign 
joy  of  delighting  and  comforting  it.  This 
He  does  partially  here  below  by  faith,  hope 

[46] 


Delights  of  Trusting  Divine  Goodness 

and  interior  graces,  by  satisfying  it  in 
heaven  with  the  plenitude  of  truths  and 
bliss.  Behold  the  adorable  delights  of  the 
Heart  of  God,  the  end  of  all  His  works 
with  creatures,  namely,  to  communicate  to 
souls  truth,  love  and  eternal  bliss. 

But  God  in  communicating  Himself  to 
souls  through  His  gifts,  desires  them  to  in- 
voke Him  with  love  and  with  constancy. 
They  who  do  not  suffer  do  not  call  upon 
Him  thus,  because  they  are  well  pleased 
with  the  things  of  earth.  This  is  why  He 
sends  them  sufferings. 

Therefore  our  trials  are  that  bitterness 
which  God  places  in  the  things  of  earth,  so 
that,  detaching  ourselves  from  them,  we 
shall  love  the  things  of  heaven. 

Trials  without  patience  are  not  accept- 
able to  God,  because  they  either  cause  us 
to  murmur  against  Providence  or  deprive 
us  of  our  energies  and  plunge  us  deeper  in 
the  mire  of  despondency.  Sorrow  and  pa- 
tience are  the  two  wings  by  which  we  rise 
from  earth  to  heaven  and  approach  towards 

[47] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

God.  No  one  who  has  reached  the  use  of 
reason  has  been  saved  without  suffering, 
and  no  one  has  been  sanctified  by  sorrow 
without  patience.  The  most  efficacious 
means  of  approaching  the  uncreated  source 
of  Truth  and  Goodness  is  sorrow  endured 
with  hearty  courage. 

The  souls  best  disposed  to  receive  God's 
blessings  are  those  who  suffer  most  with 
greatest  resignation.  This  is  the  secret  of 
the  whole  system  of  Providence  in  the 
moral  government  of  the  world.  To  com- 
municate Himself  to  souls  such  as  these,  is 
the  sweetest  of  the  divine  complacencies; 
and  it  was  in  order  to  enjoy  them  He 
created  the  world.  To  such  souls  and  to 
them  alone  does  He  bestow  in  abundance 
His  infinite  gifts. 

Therefore  patience  thus  placed  in  union 
with  sorrow,  is  that  great  power  of  God  by 
which  he  gains  all  things. 


[48] 


tt    5 


Mercy  more  charming  than  justice ....  The  companion 

of  patience .  .  .  .  A  costly  alms ....  Patience  overcomes 

the  wickedness  and  inconstancy  of  men. 

HAT  a  wonderful  judge  of  hearts  was 
our  Holy  Mother  St.  Teresa.     How 
well  she  understood  human  frailty; 
she  knew  that  only 

Patience  gains  all  things, 
not  from  God  alone,  but  even  from  men. 

We  do  not  know  why;  it  may  be  because 
men  are  generally  more  feeble  than  per- 
verse; but  it  is  certain  that  they  are  fonder 
of  the  dispensers  of  mercy  than  of  the  min- 
isters of  justice.  Justice  always  weighs 
heavily  on  us,  and  when  not  tempered  by 
mercy  it  causes  positive  terror.  Mercy,  on 
the  contrary,  is  always  smiling  and  lovable. 
It  steals  imperceptibly  into  the  proudest 
and  most  obdurate  hearts  and  conquers 
them  by  its  sweetness. 

[49] 


Saint  Teresa's 

But  this  lovely  virtue  is  so  intimately 
united  with  patience,  that  in  its  principal 
acts  it  becomes  blended  with  it.  To  bestow 
on  a  neighbor,  and  especially  on  those  with 
whom  we  live,  the  alms  of  dissembling  their 
defects  is  a  real  work  of  mercy,  and  some- 
times an  act  of  sublime  patience.  We  can 
give  this  alms  to  everyone;  and  we  our- 
selves are  in  need  of  it;  but  it  is  often  very 
costly.  It  is  easy  to  take  a  coin  from  one's 
pocket  to  succor  the  needs  of  the  poor;  but 
to  have  always  ready  in  the  heart  a  wealth 
of  indulgence,  gentleness  and  charity  with 
which  to  conceal  the  defects  of  our  neigh- 
bors and  suffer  without  resentment  their  in- 
equalities of  character,  is  so  difficult  that  it 
becomes  impossible  to  a  heart  abandoned 
to  its  own  resources.  This  is  where  the  in- 
vincible power  of  supernatural  patience 
comes  to  its  aid.  There  are  men  who  will 
perform  metallic — financial — acts  of  char- 
ity, but  for  all  they  may  squeeze  their  hearts 
they  cannot  extract  a  single  drop  of  indul- 
gent affection,  in  order  to  give  to  their 

[50] 


Mercy  More  Admirable  Than  Justice 

equals  or  inferiors  by  the  estimable  alms  of 
gentleness  and  kindly  dissimulation.  Pa- 
tience is  the  inexhaustible  treasure  of  gen- 
erous hearts. 

The  patient  heart  has  always  strength  to 
love  its  neighbor  and  reasons  for  excusing 
him  his  defects.  It  is  not  unaware  of  the 
frailties  of  human  nature,  but  it  does  not 
try  to  do  away  with  them  by  fire  and  sword, 
like  jealous  spirits  or  imprudent  ones;  nor 
does  it,  like  the  flatterer,  conceal  his  faults 
under  the  cloak  of  adulation.  It  knows  that 
the  human  heart  always  has  some  good 
qualities,  and  for  these  it  can  esteem  and 
even  praise  him,  without  any  need  of  flat- 
tering. It  never  refers  to  his  defects  except 
when  justice  or  charity  demands  it,  and 
then  only  in  words  of  sincere  friendship  and 
even  tender  affection. 

The  heart  that  manifests  itself  in  this 
manner  is  almost  omnipotent.  There  is  no 
one  who  can  resist  it.  Sooner  or  later  it 
will  make  of  men  what  it  wants  them  to  be; 
it  will  conquer  them  without  inflicting  hu- 

[51] 


Sm'nt  Teresa's 

miliations.  What  neither  reason  nor  elo- 
quence nor  justice  could  obtain  will  be  won 
by  the  patient,  enduring  and  generous  heart. 
This  is  the  secret  of  the  Saint's  strength. 

The  moral  nature  of  a  man  is  formed  not 
by  his  theories,  nor  precisely  by  his  actions, 
but  his  heart,  his  most  interior  conscious- 
ness. The  most  sacred  thing — and  most 
difficult  in  the  world  to  understand — is  the 
human  heart  and  conscience.  Nevertheless 
these  hidden  things  are  too  often  the  ones 
least  respected,  and  about  which  we  pre- 
sume to  know  most.  If  during  a  social  gath- 
ering science  is  discussed,  there  will  be 
many  who  cannot  join  in  the  conversation, 
and  it  will  become  necessary  to  change  its 
topic.  But  if  the  most  difficult  subject  in 
the  world  to  discuss,  that  of  the  moral  na- 
ture of  a  person,  is  brought  up,  everyone 
will  think  himself  sufficiently  well  in- 
structed to  define  it,  and  authorized  to  do 
so.  And  the  worst  of  it  is,  that  in  social  life 
one  must  bow  to  these  judgments.  Alas, 

[52] 


Mercy  More  Admirable  Than  Justice 

that  we  must  always  be  considered  what 
men  have  persisted  in  making  us. 

They  will  make  us  change  our  moral 
position  many  times  over,  they  will  want 
us  to  fill  all  different  roles.  Without  hav- 
ing changed  a  particle  in  our  heart  or  con- 
science, today  they  will  raise  us  upon  the 
pinnacle  of  fame  and  tomorrow  they  will 
cast  us  down  and  cover  us  with  mire.  One 
sentence  spoken,  and  even  a  malicious  reti- 
cence cleverly  interjected  into  a  conversa- 
tion, or  slipped  into  the  columns  of  a  news- 
paper, will  suffice  to  change  mankind's 
opinions  about  us.  It  is  useless  to  oppose 
one's  self  to  the  current  of  human  opinion. 
Against  its  force  there  is  no  efficacious  re- 
course but  the  divine  stability  of  Christian 
patience.  Man  in  judging  the  life  of  his 
neighbor,  nearly  always,  even  uncon- 
sciously, has  for  adviser  his  personal  affec- 
tions. We  can  hardly  ever  exercise  the 
calmness  we  display  when  treating  of  ordi- 
nary affairs.  Never  have  men  appeared  to 
me  so  small  as  when  I  have  seen  them  judg- 

[53] 


Saint  Teresas 

ing  others.  They  discuss  things  not  as  they 
understand  them,  but  according  to  how  they 
feel.  They  are  guided  not  by  the  light  of 
truth,  clear  as  that  of  the  sun,  but  rather  by 
the  sentiments  of  the  heart,  blinding  and 
fluctuating  as  flashes  of  lightning. 

The  soul's  passions,  dazzling  and  even 
blinding  the  mind,  are  like  gushing  tor- 
rents ;  they  rush  onward  full  of  noise — and 
presently  are  still.  Their  strength  is  mo- 
mentary, yet  irresistible,  whosoever  at- 
tempts to  confront  them  will  be  hurled 
aside  as  by  a  mighty  whirlwind.  The  way 
to  conquer  them  is  not  by  trying  to  check 
their  advance,  but  by  securing  a  firm  foot- 
hold while  the  impetus  of  their  force  lasts. 
Patience,  in  a  word,  fortifies  the  heart  and 
restrains  it,  so  that  it  remains  steadfast 
when  struck  by  the  onrush  of  human  pas- 
sions. At  last  from  out  of  the  tempest  of 
passion  rises  the  rainbow  of  peace. 

The  heart  that  knows  not  how  to  rise 
above  the  fallacy  of  human  judgments,  will 

[54] 


Mercy  "More  Admirable  Than  Justice 

become  entangled  among  the  ruins  of  hu- 
man reputations,  including  its  own. 

Whoever  allows  himself  to  be  overcome 
in  this  way  has  no  right  to  complain  of 
man's  injustice  towards  him,  because  he  has 
not  striven  to  rise  above  it.  The  most  un- 
just in  this  regard  are  the  very  ones  who 
complain  most  bitterly  about  men's  injustice 
in  general.  To  expect  just  treatment  from 
others,  we  must  first  be  just  in  our  dealings 
with  them;  and  it  is  better  still  if  we  are 
merciful.  But  this  justice  can  be  obtained 
from  men — we  might  almost  say — without 
seeking  for  it,  by  means  of  Christian  pa- 
tience. 

After  the  tempest  has  raged  with  great- 
est fury  on  the  summit  of  the  mountains 
without  being  able  to  disturb  their  calm, 
majestic  grandeur,  the  sun's  rays  shine 
forth  with  greater  splendor  upon  their  lofty 
peaks,  bathing  them  in  a  nimbus  of  light. 
When  men  have  striven  most  to  harass  and 
vex  a  human  heart  without  succeeding, 
there  comes  a  time  when  they  tire  of  this; 

[55] 


Saint  Teresa's 

the  passions  are  stilled;  men  have  lucid  mo- 
ments and  are  more  apt  to  judge  correctly. 
Hearts  tried  in  this  manner  become  more 
beautiful.  The  constant  friction  caused  by 
opposition  renders  them  bright  and  lus- 
trous, and  the  light  that  emanates  from 
souls  tried  by  misfortune  and  sustained  by 
patience  gives  them  a  clear  insight  into 
their  own  depths.  Men  cease  to  misunder- 
stand one  another,  they  judge  them  cor- 
rectly, and  especially  crown  their  neigh- 
bor's brow  with  the  aureole  of  brotherly 
love. 

It  is  true  that  this  light  revealing  the 
beauty  of  souls — the  result  of  constant  pa- 
tience— as  a  rule  shines  forth  only  in  the 
evening  of  life.  Many  times  we  fully  know 
men  only  after  they  are  dead.  It  is  like  the 
fading  sunlight,  that  tinges  the  sky  only 
after  the  sun  itself  has  disappeared  into  the 
deep  valleys  beyond  the  horizon. 


[56] 


Self-knowledge  ....  How  difficult  it  is  .  .  .  .  Painful  in- 

terior struggles  ....  The  heart  tires  or  goes  astray  .... 

The  need  oj  patience  in  order  to  bear 

with  our  own  selves, 


,  patience  is  the  greatest  preserva- 
tive  against  the  weakness  of  our  own 
hearts.  With  it  man  can  obtain  all 
things  from  himself;  in  fact,  it  is  no  less 
necessary  to  us  in  our  intimate  dealings  with 
self  than  in  our  social  relations  with  others. 
This  is  a  matter  that  may  well  be  pon- 
dered over  in  the  sweet  shades  of  solitude. 
It  solves  problems  both  difficult  and  little 
known,  because  we  must  begin  by  searching 
our  own  hearts,  and  from  there  go  on  to  the 
fact  that  there  are  so  few  who  really  culti- 
vate the  science  of  self-knowledge.  "My 
heart  is  unable  to  know  itself/'  said  St. 
Augustine.  It  is  a  difficult  thing  to  know 
others,  but  it  is  no  less  difficult  to  know 
one's  self.  Chesterfield  was  amazed  to  find 

[57] 


Saint  Teresa's 

in  the  drawing  rooms  of  London,  scholars 
who  had  treated  intimately  with  men  all 
their  lives,  and  yet  had  failed  to  understand 
the  human  heart;  but  it  is  still  more  strange 
that  men  who  have  lived  with  themselves 
so  many  years  have  not  yet  attained  to  self- 
knowledge.  Two-thirds  of  the  human  race 
go  down  to  the  grave  without  having  had 
a  single  intimate  conversation  with  them- 
selves. We  like  to  live  and  talk  without — 
but  not  within.  Men  have  a  knowledge  of 
almost  everything;  it  is  only  themselves  that 
they  ignore.  We  would  certainly  be  in  a 
very  grave  predicament,  if  there  were  sent 
to  each  one  of  us  a  detachment  of  Levites 
like  those  sent  by  the  priests  from  Jerusalem 
to  St.  John  the  Baptist  on  the  banks  of  the 
Jordan,  asking:  "Who  art  thou;  what  say- 
est  thou  of  thyself?"  How  dost  thou  define 
thyself?  (John  i,  22.)  Let  us  but  converse 
a  few  moments  with  our  own  hearts,  and 
we  will  understand  the  great  need  we  have 
of  patience  in  our  dealings  with  self. 
It  is  said  that  within  each  one  of  us  there 

[58] 


Painful  Interior  Struggles 

exists  an  antithetical  dualism,  two  beings 
constantly  warring  with  each  other.  In- 
deed, I  think  there  are  more  than  two; 
there  are  at  least  as  many  as  there  are  com- 
batants that  wage  war  together  within  us, 
because  all  struggles  suppose  a  plurality. 
Within  us,  then,  are  battling  not  only  the 
spirit  and  the  flesh;  conscience  and  the 
senses;  the  soul  and  the  body;  the  angel  and 
the  brute,  as  Pascal  would  say — all  of  which 
are  in  constant  mutual  warfare;  but  even 
the  very  faculties  of  the  soul  are  in  per- 
petual internecine  confusion. 

They  were  given  to  man  in  order  to  per- 
fect him,  so  that,  united  in  complete  har- 
mony, they  would  aid  each  other  in  their 
functions;  but  sin  wrought  such  havoc  in 
human  nature,  that  our  faculties  are  hardly 
ever  able  mutually  to  assist  each  other  with- 
out breeding  confusion.  The  fancy  dis- 
tracts the  reason;  the  heart  does  not  move 
in  accordance  with  the  will;  and  meanwhile 
the  senses  disturb  the  mind  and  the  imagina- 

[59] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

tion,  weaken  the  will  and  heart  and  exhaust 
and  destroy  themselves. 

In  most  of  the  actions  of  life  men,  with- 
out being  aware  of  it,  abdicate  the  rights 
of  the  reason  in  favor  of  the  fancy.  In  their 
thoughts  they  are  not  guided  by  the  mind, 
which,  receiving  light  from  the  lofty  re- 
gions of  truth,  judges  things  as  they  really 
are;  but  they  allow  themselves  to  be  in- 
spired and  influenced  by  the  fancy,  which 
sees  objects  always  in  the  light  of  its  own 
imaginings.  It  forms  and  embellishes 
things  according  to  the  heart's  tastes  rather 
than  the  realities  of  life;  forms  for  itself 
ideas  of  things  that  do  not  exist  and  im- 
agines itself  living  amongst  them.  In  this 
way  our  fancy  is  always  deceiving  us,  form- 
ing illusions  and  weaving  golden  dreams. 
We  see  things  not  as  they  really  are,  but  as 
we  would  like  them  to  be.  If  we  observe 
carefully  we  find  that  most  of  the  time  we 
wander  about  deluded,  thinking  that  we 
reason  when  in  reality  we  only  fancy.  The 
impulses  that  guide  our  thoughts  do  not 

[60] 


Painful  Interior  Struggles 

come  from  the  serene  mansions  of  truth,  but 
from  the  lower  abodes  of  the  affections  and 
the  senses.  This  is  why  our  opinions  change 
oftener  than  the  winds;  they  are  as  variable 
as  the  heart's  dreams  and  the  creatures  of 
fancy.  There  are  but  few  men  who  always 
discuss  things  with  calm  judgment,  because 
in  certain  affairs  it  is  very  difficult  to  free 
one's  self  from  the  influence  of  the  fancy 
and  of  the  heart's  emotions.  We  spend  most 
of  our  time  day-dreaming,  and,  no  doubt 
through  fear  of  being  humbled,  we  refrain 
from  asking  ourselves,  even  in  the  most 
serious  cases,  whether  we  are  reflecting  or 
only  dreaming,  whether  we  are  being 
guided  by  reason  or  fancy,  by  emotions  or 
by  realities.  We  lack  the  patience  to  train 
our  thoughts  and  control  our  imagination. 
This  accounts  for  the  confusion  often  found 
even  in  the  best  endowed  minds. 

This  confusion  descends  from  the  mind 
down  into  the  most  hidden  recesses  of  the 
soul,  of  the  will,  and  of  the  heart.  What 
the  fancy  is  to  the  mind,  the  heart  is  to  the 

[61] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

will.  The  latter  is  a  spiritual  force,  the 
source  and  center  of  the  soul's  volitions  and 
of  its  energies,  and  all  the  graver  purposes 
of  life.  The  heart  is  the  seat  of  tenderness 
and  affection,  of  joy  and  all  emotions. 
These  two  faculties  are  given  us  so  as  to 
harmonize  and  complete  each  other.  The 
will  contains  strength  and  energy;  the  heart, 
emotion  and  poesy.  A  heart  without  will 
power  is  fickle  and  inconstant;  it  is  affected 
by  everything  and  has  much  to  suffer.  A 
will  bereft  of  the  tenderness  of  the  heart  is 
harsh,  and  wounds  those  with  whom  it 
comes  in  contact.  A  man  who  is  all  heart 
and  lacks  will  power  inspires  pity.  A  man 
of  great  will  power,  but  heartless  and  in- 
capable of  feeling,  is  repulsive;  he  is  useful 
in  business,  but  worthless  in  family  or  other 
life. 

Perfect  harmony  between  these  two  fac- 
ulties constitutes  the  moral  perfection  of 
man;  but  there  are  very  few  who  have  at- 
tained to  this.  This  is  where  sin  left  its 

[62] 


Painful  Interior  Struggles 

deepest  mark,  for  discord  between  the  will 
and  the  heart  are  very  common. 

The  heart  can  separate  itself  from  the 
will  in  two  ways,  by  tiring  or  overexerting 
itself.  Conscience,  for  example,  dictates 
that  we  must  perform  a  certain  painful 
duty.  With  our  will  we  desire  to  do  it  and 
desire  it  sincerely,  but  the  heart  with  its 
tenderness  and  sensibility  rises  in  revolt,  or 
at  any  rate  cannot  conform  itself  to  the  will ; 
it  grows  tired  and  faint  and  we  feel  no  joy, 
but  only  repugnance  in  fulfilling  that  duty. 
Then  it  is  that  we  desire  but  cannot  feel; 
or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  we  would  desire 
to  desire,  or,  as  David  would  say  in  his 
beautiful  language:  "My  soul  hath  coveted 
to  long  for  Thy  justifications:  Concupivit 
anima  mea  desiderare  justificationes  tuas" 
(Psalm  cxviii,  20).  There  are  times  when 
it  seems  that  we  almost  drag  our  hearts 
along. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  it  is  easy  to  love 
and  to  desire.  Without  penetrating  the 
deep  secrets  of  philosophy  to  ascertain  what 

[63] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

is  the  immediate  force  that  gently  moves 
the  will  and  heart  to  love,  but  dwelling 
only  upon  psychological  phenomena  as  they 
present  themselves  to  the  human  mind,  I 
maintain  that  there  is  nothing  so  difficult 
in  life  as  to  love,  especially  when  the  heart 
opposes  itself  to  it.  The  will,  without  the 
aid  of  the  heart,  soon  tires  and  grows  dis- 
couraged. Then  it  is  more  difficult  to  de- 
sire than  to  act. 

This  is  the  most  common  malady  of  the 
heart,  and,  as  an  eminent  psychologist  has 
said:  "The  difficulty  does  not  lie  so  much 
in  controlling  the  heart,  so  that  it  may  not 
overexert  itself,  but  rather  in  making  it  go." 
It  easily  tires,  weakens,  becomes,  as  it  were, 
anaemic,  and  dies  of  cold.  The  heart  tires; 
and  then  the  will,  without  its  aid,  weakens. 
This  is  the  reason  for  the  great  fickleness  of 
humanity. 

Nevertheless  the  heart  sometimes  over- 
flows with  life  and  feels  too  intensely,  much 
more  so  than  we  would  desire.  It  is  then 
that  our  thoughts  wander  where  the  will 

[64] 


Painful  Interior  Struggles 

would  not  wish,  and  leave  the  latter  alone. 
This  is  very  harassing,  and  it  has  bedewed 
every  corner  of  the  world  with  tears. 

Wheresoever  the  light  of  the  sun  has 
shone,  there  man  has  stood  bewailing  the 
sorrows  of  his  heart.  Yet  no  one  has  de- 
picted them  as  graphically  as  the  Prophet- 
King  when  he  cried:  "My  heart  hath  for- 
saken me"  (Psalm  xxxix,  13).  This  thought 
alone  is  a  whole  poem  in  itself,  a  complete 
canticle  of  the  soul's  sufferings  and  the 
heart's  wanderings.  In  union  with  St.  Paul 
and  St.  Jerome,  who  sang  in  accents  of  sor- 
row the  weakness  and  wanderings  of  their 
hearts,  there  have  always  ascended  to 
heaven  laments  of  countless  saintly  souls, 
which  form  the  most  beautiful  portion  of 
Christian  poetry.  Alas!  in  what  confusion 
are  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men!  What  a 
great  truth  spoke  he  who  sang:  "Man  is  a 
soul  in  ruins!" 

In  order  to  be  able  to  endure  the  harass- 
ing company  of  the  warring  beings  within 
us,  we  must  make  use  of  all  the  resources  of 

[65] 


Saint  Teresa's 


patience.  We  must  bear  with  the  fancies 
and  illusions  of  our  mind,  the  inconstancies 
of  our  will,  and  the  dreams  of  our  fancy. 
"We  are  always  children,"  said  Balmes, 
"and  as  a  child  we  must  treat  our  heart. 
With  firmness,  yes  ;  but  also  with  love,  gen- 
tleness and  patience.  By  over-severity  we 
can  gain  nothing.  The  man  who  is  irri- 
table with  himself  will  never  have  control 
of  his  soul.  The  sweet  and  original  St. 
Francis  of  Sales  has  written  many  golden 
pages  on  the  gentleness,  indulgence,  and 
tenderness  with  which  we  must  treat  our 
own  heart"  (Devout  Life,  part  III,  chap. 
IX).  A  Kempis  says:  "That  by  patience 
and  humility,  and  the  assistance  of  grace, 
we  must  conquer  all  the  frailties  of  human 
nature"  (Imitation  of  Christ,  book  I,  chap. 
XIII). 

But  the  great  eulogist  of  patience  as  the 
remedy  against  the  weakness  of  our  own 
hearts,  is  the  peerless  Doctor  of  Carmel, 
our  St.  Teresa.  The  verse  upon  which  we 
are  now  meditating  may  be  considered  as 

[66] 


Painful  Interior  Struggles 

the  fifth  principal  one  of  her  ascetic  doc- 
trines with  regard  to  God,  our  neighbor  and 
our  own  heart.  She  had  absolute  confidence 
in  gentleness  and  perseverance,  that  is  to  say, 
in  patience.  In  her  great  work,  The  In- 
terior Castle  of  the  Soul,  rising  to  sublime, 
mystical  heights,  she  pictures  with  inimi- 
table mastery  the  heart's  inner  struggles,  and 
as  a  remedy  for  calming  them  she  recom- 
mends constant  gentleness.  She  does  not  de- 
mand self-impatience  in  order  to  attain  to 
sanctity  and  the  victory  over  one's  faults. 
She  dislikes  all  manner  of  violence;  and 
she  has  placed  absolute  confidence  in  pa- 
tience. She  knew,  and  sang  of  it  with  that 
angelical  grace  which  no  one  will  ever  be 
able  to  equal,  that  from  God,  man,  and  our 
own  hearts, 

Patience  alone  gains  all  things. 


[67] 


7 


Patience  raises  us  towards  God.  .  .  .God  has  need  of 

man  ....  How  He  exalts  him  by  faith  and  hope  .... 

He  enriches  him  —  in  the  mind,  in  the  soul,  in  the 

heart  ....  Providence,  bread  and  labor  .... 

The  Evangelical  Counsels. 


is  the  immense  strength  of  the 
weak.  With  it  everything  can  be  ob- 
tained from  God,  from  men,  and  from 
our  own  hearts.  It  is  a  magic  word,  which 
sheds  light  in  the  mind  and  warmth  in  the 
heart.  It  distinguishes  the  solid  virtues 
from  apparent  ones,  and  crowns  knowledge 
with  the  aureole  of  sanctity.  God  himself 
has  bestowed  its  highest  praise:  The  learn- 
ing of  a  man  is  known  by  his  patience,  and 
his  glory  is  to  pass  over  wrongs  (Prov.  xix, 

to- 

Patience  is  the  greatest  of  human  powers; 
the  staff  upon  which  he  must  lean  who 
would  rise  into  the  moral  world;  it  is  a 
shield  that  casts  back  all  the  darts  of 
calumny;  it  is  the  corrective  in  which  the 

[68] 


Patience  Raises  Us  Towards  God 

acid  of  our  own  wrath  and  that  of  others 
is  dissolved,  forming  the  inestimable  salt  of 
Christian  resignation;  but  above  all  pa- 
tience gives  us  wings  to  soar  from  earth  to 
heaven,  and  draw  nearer  to  God  when  the 
thorns  here  below  pierce  us.  Heaven  seems 
wholly  beautiful  when  on  earth  we  weep. 
The  memory  of  God  is  sweetest  when  with- 
out being  discouraged  we  suffer  much. 

The  heart  that  has  been  wounded  and  be- 
trayed by  men  and  that  has  passed  through 
the  crucible  of  suffering,  yet  is  always  sus- 
tained by  patience,  begins  to  be  consoled 
only  when  it  seeks  its  comfort  and  places 
all  its  confidence  in  God.  Therefore  does 
our  celestial  poet  sing  the  happy  lot  of 
souls  who,  on  the  wings  of  patience,  rose 
above  the  miseries  of  earth  and  threw  them- 
selves into  the  arms  of  God.  And  this  is 
what  she  sang  in  this  brief  and  simple 
phrase,  so  concise  and  so  profoundly  wise 
as  to  epitomize  nearly  the  whole  of  Chris- 
tian teaching: 

Who  possesseth  God  wanteth  nothing. 

[69] 


Saint  Teresa's 

God  is  the  adequate  object  of  our  minds 
and  hearts.  The  mind  being  made  for  truth 
and  the  heart  for  love  and  both  for  beauty, 
God,  who  is  the  uncreated  truth  and  essence 
of  infinite  beauty  and  love,  alone  can  fully 
satisfy  the  desires  of  the  human  soul. 

God  and  man,  often  enough  without  the 
latter  being  aware  of  it,  have  mysterious 
mutual  sympathies — they  seek  and  in  a  cer- 
tain way  need  each  other.  Man  has  need 
of  God  as  the  poor  man  of  the  rich,  as  the 
weak  of  the  strong,  as  the  sick  of  the  phy- 
sician, as  the  eyes  of  light,  as  the  trees  of  sap, 
as  the  bodily  system  of  blood,  and  as  the 
soul  of  hope.  And  God  also  has  need  of 
man.  You  ask :  How  can  omnipotence  have 
need  of  dust  and  light  of  darkness?  Ah, 
yes!  It  is  indeed  a  truth  which  the  mind 
cannot  understand,  but  the  heart  feels  it, 
loves  it  and  adores  it.  God  has  need  of 
man  as  the  artist  of  the  canvas  on  which  he 
depicts  his  soul's  greatest  conceptions;  as 
genius  after  its  lofty  flights  needs  another 
mind  on  which  to  shed  its  light  and  to 

[70] 


Patience  Raises  Us  Towards  God 

whom  it  can  communicate  its  ideals,  an- 
other heart  to  warm  with  its  ardor  and  en- 
thusiasm; as  a  mother  needs  her  children 
to  press  to  her  breast  and  to  tell  them  of 
her  ardent  love.  By  a  mystery  that  neither 
angels  nor  men  will  ever  be  able  to  under- 
stand, God  loves  man  and  he  that  loves 
needs  the  heart  he  loves,  to  whom  he  may 
whisper  that  intimate  language  which  the 
human  tongue  can  scarcely  articulate  with- 
out profaning  a  divine  language. 

In  order  that  these  two  beings  who  thus 
need  and  seek  each  other  may  find  each 
other,  a  merciful  and  wise  Providence 
causes  man  to  rise  and  God  to  come  down; 
and  when  they  meet  they  embrace,  and  thus 
united  soar  to  heaven  where  God  will  reign 
eternally  with  His  Saints  (Apoc.  xxii,  5). 

From  this  meeting  and  embrace  between 
God  and  man  springs  the  happiness  of  the 
human  heart.  According  as  this  divine  tie 
is  intimate  and  perfect,  so  will  the  soul's 
happiness  be  fulfilled  and  its  constant  and 
ardent  aspirations  satisfied.  In  heaven  this 

[71] 


Saint  Teresa's 

tie  is  perfect  and  indissoluble,  because  we 
will  see  clearly  and  without  figures  the  di- 
vine essence  as  it  is,  in  Itself,  according  to 
the  language  of  the  Apostle  of  tenderness 
and  love.  Hence  happiness  there  must  be 
most  perfect,  most  complete,  and  eternal. 

Here  on  earth  the  tie  is  weak.  We  possess 
God  only  by  an  imperfect  faith,  hope  and 
charity.  It  does  not  satisfy  the  heart's  de- 
sires, and  for  this  reason  it  is  something 
fully  realized  only  in  the  next  life. 

Notwithstanding  the  present  imperfec- 
tion of  this  union,  yet  even  now  to  possess 
God,  if  only  by  the  longings  of  faith,  hope 
and  charity,  is  the  happiest  lot  that  can  fall 
to  us  on  earth.  The  heart  that  possesses 
God  in  this  way,  if  it  compares  itself  with 
those  who  do  not  possess  Him,  may  well  ex- 
claim that  it  wanteth  nothing. 

He  has  great  wealth  who  keeps  in  his  soul 
the  treasures  of  faith,  hope  and  charity  for 
all  the  world,  for  God's  sake  and  towards 
men.  Whoever  has  faith  has  nobility;  he 
has  no  need  of  family  pedigree  or  creden- 

[72] 


Patience  Raises  Us  Towards  God 

tials  of  nobility  who  by  a  simple  act  of  faith 
can  trace  his  pedigree  to  Paradise  itself  and 
count  God  as  his  parental  origin.  He  can 
never  feel  ashamed  of  his  lineage  who  con- 
tents himself  with  his  divine  affiliation. 
Furthermore,  in  the  secret  of  his  soul  he 
guards  another  claim,  that  of  sanctifying 
grace,  which  gives  him  the  right  to  look 
towards  heaven  as  the  eternal  source  of  all 
nobility,  and  as  his  future  home.  He  may 
be  poor,  lowly,  uncouth,  and  infirm — it  does 
not  matter;  he  is  none  the  less  the  adopted 
son  of  God,  with  the  right  to  an  eternal  in- 
heritance of  peace  and  happiness.  In  order 
to  enjoy  it,  he  need  only  wait  until  he 
crosses  the  paternal  threshold  of  a  happy 
death.  While  he  is  on  earth  he  is  on  his 
way.  His  arrival  will  be  death,  which  for 
the  Christian  who  has  faith  and  charity  is 
but  a  slumber  whose  awakening  will  be 
within  the  arms  of  God.  Amongst  men  of 
faith,  of  charity  and  of  hope,  there  can  be 
no  class  disinherited  nor  any  plebeians;  all 
are  noblemen  and  princes.  The  titles  of 

[73] 


Saint  Teresa's 

our  greatness  are  contained  in  this  docu- 
ment given  to  us  by  God  Himself — "7  have 
said:  Ye  are  gods  and  all  the  sons  of  the 
Most  High"  (Psalm  Ixxxi,  6). 

On  the  other  hand,  how  poor  and  deso- 
late is  the  soul  bereft  of  faith ;  who  knows 
not  what  it  is,  from  whence  it  came,  nor 
whither  it  is  going!  How  lonely  the  breast 
destitute  of  infinite  hopes  and  longings! 
How  sad  the  heart  that  does  not  love  with 
a  love  that  shall  be  eternal!  Unbelievers 
wilfully  forsake  their  royal  prerogatives, 
destroy  the  titles  of  their  divine  adoption, 
and  renounce  their  heavenly  inheritance. 
Against  such  as  these  has  God  pronounced 
His  terrible  sentence  of  degradation  and 
seclusion  from  Paradise. 

Immensely  rich  is  he  who  possesses  God ; 
incomprehensibly  poor  is  he  who  is  bereft 
of  Him.  Whoever  possesses  Him  in  this 
world  has  all  he  needs  during  his  brief  so- 
journ here  below;  for  he  has  faith,  hope 
and  charity,  and  these  are  all  he  needs,  in- 
asmuch as  he  is  a  traveler  who  goes  quickly 

[74] 


Patience  Raises  Us  Towards  God 

on   from  time   to   eternity,   from   earth   to 
heaven. 

And  as  what  is  secondary  always  follows 
what  is  primary,  so  these  spiritual  gifts  of 
divine  faith  and  grace  are  followed  by 
others  of  a  precious  though  inferior  order. 
God,  in  uniting  Himself  to  man  by  grace, 
enriches  him  so  that  he  lacks  nothing,  not 
only  in  the  spiritual  order,  but  also  in  the 
intellectual,  moral  and  material  order,  in- 
asmuch as  these  latter  are  necessary  for  the 
conservation  of  the  first. 

Who  hath  God  wanteth  nothing,  even  in 
the  intellectual  order. 

He  may  be  neither  a  mathematician,  nor 
an  astronomer,  nor  a  historian,  nor  a  rheto- 
rician, nor  versed  in  any  human  science 
whatsoever;  but  he  has  what  De  Maistre 
called  with  much  inspiration  the  instinct  of 
truth. 

People  who  are  virtuous  and  filled  with 
God  feel  the  truth;  they  are  able  to  distin- 
guish it  in  as  far  as  it  is  necessary  for  the 

[75] 


Saint  Teresa's 

principal  acts  of  their  lives;  they  have  a 
clear  and  steady  light,  not  proceeding  from 
any  human  institution,  illuminating  them 
without  dazzling  them,  and  which  bestows 
on  them  an  abundance  of  practical  religious 
sense.  They  have  not  sought  truth  by 
means  of  any  philosophical  system,  and  yet 
they  are  replenished  with  it.  It  sometimes 
seems  as  if  their  souls  are  bathed  in  a  veri- 
table ocean  of  light. 

They  know  God,  who  is  the  light,  and 
this  radiant  knowledge  shines  not  only  on 
the  conscience  and  heart,  but  also  sheds  rays 
on  the  events  of  their  life,  and,  although  liv- 
ing in  the  same  circumstances  as  the  rest  of 
mankind,  it  gives  them  a  great  advantage 
over  them.  "The  science  of  God,"  says  the 
illustrious  Donoso  Cortes,  "imparts  to  those 
who  possess  it  prudence  and  strength,  be- 
cause at  the  same  time  it  stimulates  and  ex- 
pands the  mind — I  do  not  know  of  any  man 
accustomed  to  converse  with  God  and  ex- 
ercise himself  in  divine  contemplation,  who, 
although  placed  in  the  same  circumstances 

[76] 


Patience  Raises  Us  Towards  Cod 

as  the  rest  of  mankind,  does  not  surpass 
them  in  that  practical  and  prudent  judg- 
ment called  good  sense."  And  the  re- 
nowned Gaume  adds:  "It  is  from  thence 
must  we  look  for  the  science  of  life,  sound 
judgment,  the  truth  of  propositions,  the 
knowledge  of  the  synthesis  which  combines 
the  end  with  the  means  and  the  means  with 
the  end,  the  practical  discernment  of  things 
— life's  great  teacher,  as  Bossuet  used  to 
call  it." 

Time  testifies  to  the  truth  of  these  asser- 
tions. When  rulers  were  men  filled  with 
the  spirit  of  God,  such  as  Recaredo,  St.  Fer- 
dinand, Cisneros  and  Isabel  the  Catholic, 
little  was  said  about  truth  and  virtue,  and 
much  done.  In  times  of  unbelief,  statesmen 
have  withdrawn  from  God,  at  any  rate  they 
do  not  want  Him  at  their  side  while  they 
legislate.  You  cannot  deny  their  talent,  for 
they  are  scholars  and  doctors  and  speak 
with  fascinating  eloquence;  but  good  sense 
is  lacking.  In  their  minds  there  is  light, 
but  it  is  an  artificial  light,  which  stupefies 

[77] 


Saint  Teresa's 

and  dazzles,  killing  the  noble  energies  of 
the  souls  of  individuals  and  of  nations.  Ah! 
it  is  because  these  minds  have  not  God;  and 
if  the  mind  that  hath  God  ivanteth  nothing, 
the  mind  bereft  of  Him  has  scarcely  any- 
thing of  avail. 

Neither  can  they  who  possess  God  lack 
anything  either  in  the  moral  or  emotional 
order.  Because  grace  not  only  enlightens 
the  mind  by  faith,  but  through  the  other 
theological  virtues  it  strengthens  the  will 
and  inflames  the  heart;  and  this  divine  fire 
neutralizes  the  flame  of  the  senses.  Then  the 
law  of  God  becomes  sweet  and  easy,  weari- 
ness and  languor  become  things  of  the  past. 
All  our  disorderly  passions  are  silent,  whilst 
the  heart,  gently  dilated  with  the  sweetness 
of  divine  grace,  runs  swiftly  along  the  path 
of  the  most  arduous  duties. 

Even  in  the  material  order  does  God 
favor  abundantly  those  who  possess  Him. 
The  words  to  this  effect  are  clear  and  def- 
inite: "Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God 

[78] 


Patience  Raises  Us  Towards  God 

and  His  justice,  and  all  these  things  shall  be 
added  unto  you"  (Luke  xii,  31). 

By  no  means  does  this  signify  that  we  are 
dispensed  from  the  law  of  labor.  God  does 
not  want  us  idle.  In  the  material  order,  the 
same  as  in  the  spiritual  order,  He  requires 
our  co-operation.  He  gives  us  grace  and 
with  this  we  have  all  the  necessary  helps  for 
salvation;  but  we  must  make  use  of  it  by 
practicing  acts  of  virtue;  it  is  thus  that  we 
shall  save  our  souls.  In  the  material  order 
man  plans  his  work  and  God  blesses  it  and 
gives  him  abundant  graces.  Man  plows  and 
sows  the  seed,  but  God  causes  it  to  grow 
and  bear  fruit.  With  man's  labor  and 
God's  blessing  there  can  be  nothing  wanting 
to  ultimate  perfection  in  the  material  order. 
Yet  even  from  the  law  of  material  labor  has 
Providence  partly  dispensed  those  who  con- 
secrate themselves  completely  to  His  serv- 
ice. The  passage  of  the  Holy  Gospel  which 
relates  how  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  pro- 
claimed this  law,  is  one  of  the  sweetest  and 
most  tender  of  Holy  Scripture.  "Therefore 

[79] 


Saint  Teresa's 

I  say  to  you,  be  not  solicitous  for  your  life, 
what  you  shall  eat,  nor  for  your  body,  what 
you  shall  put  on.  Behold  the  birds  of  the 
air,  for  they  neither  sow,  nor  do  they  reap, 
nor  gather  into  barns;  and  your  heavenly 
Father  feedeth  them.  Are  you  not  of  much 
more  value  than  they?  .  .  .  Consider  the 
lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow:  they  labor 
not,  neither  do  they  spin.  But  I  say  to  you, 
that  not  even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was 
arrayed  as  one  of  these.  And  if  the  grass 
of  the  field,  which  is  today,  and  tomor- 
row is  cast  into  the  oven,  God  doth  so 
clothe :  how  much  more  you,  O  ye  of  little 
faith?  ..."  (Matt,  vi.,  25-30).  "And  seek 
not  you  what  you  shall  eat  or  what  you  shall 
drink;  .  .  .  But  your  Father  knoweth  that 
you  have  need  of  these  things"  (Luke  xii, 
29,  30). 

God  has  therefore  solemnly  pledged  His 
word  of  honor.  Those  who  consecrate 
themselves  entirely  to  His  service  will  be 
wanting  in  nothing,  even  as  the  birds  of  the 
air  and  the  lilies  of  the  field  want  nothing. 

[80] 


Patience  Raises  Us  Towards  God 

For  two  thousand  years,  uncounted  thou- 
sands of  young  men  and  maidens  have  con- 
tinually been  seen  to  renounce  everything, 
be  it  large  or  small,  and  leave  their  paternal 
homes,  without  more  means  of  support  than 
this  beautiful  institution  of  the  Holy  Gos- 
pel. Unnumbered  heroes  have  crossed  seas 
and  continents,  trusting  entirely  to  God's 
Providence  for  their  support.  The  world 
has  ridiculed  and  scoffed  at  them,  yet  men, 
always  moved  by  a  secret  impulse,  have 
found  their  way  into  the  desert  or  to  the 
door  of  the  lowly  hut  in  order  to  carry  them 
a  piece  of  bread.  This  is  the  ever-living 
miracle  existing  even  in  these  days  of  utter 
indifference. 

It  is  divine  Providence,  who  teaches  us 
today  as  ever,  that  in  no  matter  what  sphere 
he  lives,  he 

Who  hath  God,  ivanteth  nothing. 


[81] 


tt    0 


Our  Holy  Mother  St.  Teresa ....  Her  profound  and 

practical  knowledge  oj  divine  things  and  oj  the  human 

heart ....  Her  wonderful  terseness  oj  expression .... 

Immense  void  in  the  human  soul.  .  .  .It  can  have  or 

possess  God,  both  in  this  world 

and  in  the  next. 

x^T  IS  not  easy  to  understand  all  of  the 

^  /    truths  enclosed  in  a  single  verse  of  the 

canticles   composed   by   the   inspired 

poet  of   Carmel.     Her   thoughts    rise   to 

such  heights  and  her  flights  are  at  times  so 

varied,  that  it  becomes  almost  impossible  to 

follow  her. 

Her  language  seems  divine,  not  only  for 
its  aesthetic  beauty,  but  above  all  for  deep 
penetration  in  divine  truth.  With  a  single 
word,  with  the  briefest  phrases,  she  ex- 
presses great  truth  of  a  very  distinct  nature. 
Her  thoughts  may  be  studied  in  different 
lights,  and  yet  they  always  are  noble,  lofty, 
luminous  and  full  of  wisdom.  Her  words 

[82] 


Our  Holy  Mother  Saint  Teresa 

are  rays  of  light  that  shed  forth  sparks  of 
fire  that  enkindle  our  hearts. 

A  lady  of  distinguished  and  cultured 
society,  a  holy  nun  and  privileged  Spouse 
of  Jesus  Christ,  she  yet  practically  knows 
the  deceitfulness  of  the  world,  the  charms 
of  virtue,  and  the  secrets  of  the  Heart  of 
God.  She  dwelt  more  in  heaven  than  on 
earth;  she  had  familiar  intercourse  with 
angels  and  saints :  the  Blessed  Virgin  often 
visited  her,  and  she  often  saw  at  her  side 
Our  Divine  Lord  himself.  Like  another 
St.  Paul,  she  was  raised,  not  once,  but  many 
times,  in  wonderful  ecstasies  to  heaven,  and 
in  spirit  she  traversed  the  eternal  mansions 
of  bliss.  There  she  recognized  some  of  her 
relatives  and  friends,  among  whom  were 
her  saintly  parents.  (Life,  chap.  XXXVIII, 
No.  i.)  The  mystery  of  the  Blessed  Trin- 
ity was  manifested  to  her  in  marvelous 
light,  as  the  all-attracting  source  of  the 
soul's  happiness.  Purgatory  and  hell  were 
also  shown  to  her,  and  for  a  few  brief  mo- 

[83] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

ments  she  experienced  the  terrible  pains  of 
those  dreary  abysses. 

She  had  therefore  a  practical  knowledge 
of  the  greater  part  of  the  mysteries  of  our 
holy  religion,  superior  to  that  of  Dante. 
She  describes  to  us  the  mysteries  beyond  the 
grave. 

Possessing  thus  a  profound  and  practical 
knowledge  of  the  human  heart  and  of  the 
mysteries  of  our  divine  religion,  she  spoke 
with  clear,  discerning  knowledge,  and  her 
thoughts  are  luminous  beacon  lights  reflect- 
ing truth,  both  natural  and  revealed.  They 
illumine  the  tortuous  paths  of  this  life  and 
give  us  a  glimpse  into  the  deep  secrets  of 
eternity.  The  writings  of  our  Saint  taught 
and  ravished  with  delight  and  admiration 
the  gentle  soul  of  St.  Francis  of  Sales  and 
St.  Alphonsus  Liguori,  as  well  as  the  genius 
of  Bosuet  and  the  marvelous  talent  of  Leib- 
nitz. In  loftiness  and  grandeur,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  beautiful  freedom  with  which 
she  expresses  her  thoughts,  she  resembles 
the  holy  prophets  of  old.  These,  in  a  single 

[84] 


Our  Holy  Mother  Saint  Teresa 

actual  vision,  would  foresee  events  the  most 
unconnected  and  which  were  distant  from 
each  other  thousands  and  thousands  of 
years.  In  the  same  way  they  frequently  an- 
nounced the  future  as  past.  In  a  like  man- 
ner, the  Saint  in  her  writings  speaks  with 
the  same  readiness  of  the  most  simple  and 
transcendental  matters.  There  are  solemn 
moments  in  which  she  seems  to  rest  upon 
the  threshold  of  time  and  of  eternity,  un- 
veiling the  vast  boundaries  of  the  visible 
and  invisible  worlds;  for  she  tells  us  with 
astonishing  clearness  and  wonderful  preci- 
sion of  things  temporal  as  well  as  eternal. 

At  times  it  seems  that  she  participates  in 
angelical  knowledge;  for  if  the  angels  con- 
tain in  very  few  ideas  their  extensive  knowl- 
edge, the  most  hidden  secrets  of  nature  as 
well  as  intellectual  truths,  St.  Teresa  sang 
sometimes  in  a  single  phrase  the  attitude  of 
Divine  Providence  in  heaven  and  on  earth, 
with  regard  to  the  human  race. 

No  one  has  ever  been  able  to  express  in  a 
more  exact  and  concise  manner  than  she 

[85] 


Saint  Teresa's 

did,  the  sublime  happiness  of  the  heart  that 
possesses  God,  now  by  faith  in  this  life, 
again  by  the  beatific  vision  in  heaven.  As- 
cetics have  written  innumerable  treatises  to 
prove  the  peace,  joy  and  divine  consolation 
experienced  by  hearts,  who  with  unbounded 
confidence  throw  themselves  into  the  arms 
of  God.  Theologians  have  written  massive 
volumes  explaining  the  happiness  of  souls 
who  in  heaven  enjoy  the  unveiled  beauty  of 
the  Deity.  Our  Saint  has  spoken  less  and 
said  much  more;  in  a  single  phrase  she  has 
sung  of  the  action  of  Divine  Providence  on 
souls,  and  the  joys  God  imparts  to  them  in 
time  as  well  as  in  eternity: 

Who  hath  God,  wanteth  nothing. 

This  thought  is  true  in  every  sense  and 
becomes  more  beautiful,  the  greater  the 
height  of  vision  in  which  we  study  it.  We 
do  not  know  whether  the  Saint  wrote  it 
after  prolonged  meditation  and  experience 
of  the  blessings  which  God  showers  upon 
those  who,  in  this  life,  surrender  themselves 

[86] 


Our  Holy  Mother  Saint  Teresa 

to  Him;  or  whether  she  composed  it  dur- 
ing moments  of  divine  inspiration,  when  in 
ecstacy  she  was  raised  to  heaven  and  al- 
lowed to  contemplate  the  joys  of  eternal 
bliss.  We  are  ignorant  as  to  whether  she 
wished  to  set  forth  the  beneficent  action  of 
Providence  upon  hearts  that  confide  in  God 
alone,  or  if  with  a  single  stroke  of  the  pen 
she  wished  to  portray  the  divine  fulness  of 
love  and  the  eternal  joys  of  the  Blessed,  re- 
lated as  if  by  one  who  has  actually  seen  and 
tasted  them.  But  it  is  certain  that  she  ex- 
presses all  this  with  a  clearness  and  ac- 
curacy that  is  astonishing. 

This  thought,  as  applied  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  earth,  is  a  synthesis  of  the  Holy 
Gospel,  a  compendium  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence in  His  action  on  souls  who  believe 
and  hope.  Applied  to  those  who  are  al- 
ready in  possession  of  heaven,  it  is  the  clear- 
est and  most  compendious  explanation  of 
Beatitude.  More  could  not  be  said,  nor  in 
less  words.  Everything  that  is  said  after- 
wards will  be  but  comments  on  this  thought, 

[87] 


Saint  Teresa's 

for  nothing  can  be  added  that  it  does  not 
virtually  express. 

Who  hath  God  by  faith  and  hope  in  this 
life,  -wanteth  nothing  he  can  need  on  his 
brief  journey  from  earth  towards  heaven. 

But  who  hath  God  in  heaven  with  that 
perfect  possession,  the  eternal  and  indis- 
soluble tie  of  love  and  light  peculiar  to 
eternal  bliss,  ivanteth  nothing  in  order  to 
satisfy  the  infinite  capacity  of  his  mind,  the 
ardent  longing  of  his  heart  and  his  soul's 
most  sublime  aspirations. 

Who  hath  God,  wanteth  nothing. 

Ah!  This  is  a  wonderful  thought;  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  that  ever  blossomed  from 
the  pen  of  our  celestial  Doctor.  Herein  are 
virtually  explained  the  most  difficult  mys- 
teries of  human  life.  Herein  lies  material 
for  assiduous  meditation  for  the  most  bril- 
liant minds,  the  most  ardent  hearts  and  the 
most  inspired  genius.  Reason,  genius,  sen- 
timent, all  have  in  this  single  phrase  most 
ample  scope  in  which  to  bask  at  will  in 
divine  sunlight,  without  ever  reaching  its 

[88] 


Our  Holy  Mother  Saint  Teresa 

confines.  Herein  are  compended  theology 
and  philosophy. 

Who  hath  God  .  .  .  But,  what?  Can  we 
possess  God?  Can  dust  hold  immensity? 
Yes.  But  how,  in  how  many  ways?  In 
order  to  hold  God,  what  relations  are  pos- 
sible? Which  of  these  are  already  estab- 
lished? In  what  manner  do  we  actually 
hold  them  and  how  do  we  hope  to  complete 
them? 

Behold  the  sum  total  of  theology,  all  of 
the  transcendental  philosophy  of  the  world, 
and  even  the  entire  history  of  the  human 
race.  For  all  is  man's  and  man  is  God's 
(I  Cor.  iii,  22  and  23). 

Our  Saint,  uplifted  on  the  wings  of  faith, 
sets  forth,  not  only  as  possible  but  as  real, 
that  divine  longing  of  God  for  man. 

Who  hath  God,  ivanteth  nothing. 

Can  there  be  a  single  moment  in  which 
there  is  nothing  wanting  to  the  human 
spirit?  Profound  mysteries  at  once  present 
themselves  to  the  human  soul  by  the  mere 

[89] 


Saint  Teresa  s 

utterance  of  these  words.  We  do  not  know, 
now,  even  how  much  is  wanting  to  us,  for 
no  one  has  sounded  the  immense  abyss  of 
the  human  soul.  The  more  we  give  to  our 
nature,  the  more  it  desires,  the  greater  is  its 
hunger,  the  more  it  wants.  The  great  void 
of  our  souls  is  like  the  space  wherein  roll 
those  globes  of  light  called  stars.  The 
greater  the  telescopic  power  for  penetrat- 
ing into  the  depth  of  space,  the  more  plan- 
ets are  discovered.  Even  the  depths  of  the 
heavens  have  not  been  sounded,  and  much 
less  those  of  the  human  heart.  Our  Saint 
seems  to  have  known  the  emptiness  of  the 
heart,  for  she  knows  how  it  can  be  filled, 
which  is  by  possessing  God.  In  order  that 
nothing  may  be  wanting  to  the  heart,  an 
object  adequate  to  its  capacity  must  be  given 
to  it.  The  heart  is  made  in  the  image  of 
the  infinite,  therefore  it  must  be  given  to 
God,  infinite  being;  then  only  will  it  want 
nothing,  because  forever  and  in  all  things 
it  will  be  a  profound,  marvelous  and  con- 
soling truth  that, 

Who  hath  God,  wanteth  nothing. 
[90] 


0 


How   we  shall  possess  God  in  heaven. ....  He  will 

satisfy  the  mind — the  will — the  heart — the 

senses .  .  .  .Lift  up  your  hearts. 

x^N  ORDER  that  God  may  satisfy  all  the 
^  /  cravings  of  human  nature,  and  in  such 
^^^  a  way  that  man  will  be  able  to  say  in  all 
truth  that  in  possessing  God  he  wants  noth- 
ing, it  is  necessary  that  between  God  and 
man  there  exist  a  bond,  intimate,  perfect 
and  eternal;  so  that  man  possesses  God  in  a 
real,  immediate,  complete  and  absolute 
manner.  This  is  reserved  for  that  life  above 
which  is  the  true  life. 

In  it,  according  to  Catholic  dogma,  the 
soul  will  hold  God  in  a  perfect,  absolute 
and  eternal  possession,  because  it  will  unite 
itself  to  Him  intimately  and  in  reality,  lov- 
ing Him  without  measure  and  knowing 
Him  not  in  enigmas  or  through  interme- 
diate ideas,  but  by  immediate  and  intuitive 

[91] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

vision.  There  the  divine  union  on  the  part 
of  man  will  be  perfect  and  total,  and  his 
happiness  complete  and  eternal.  The  blessed 
can  well  sing  with  the  Carmelite  poetess : 

Who  hath  God,  wanteth  nothing. 

In  heaven  there  will  not  be  a  single  hu- 
man faculty  that  will  not  experience  a  joy- 
ous satiety  without  weariness.  Nothing  will 
be  wanting  to  the  mind,  for  there  will  be 
the  clear  light  of  truth.  Not  a  light  such 
as  in  the  world  illumines  the  mind.  This 
earthly  light  never  manifests  itself  but 
through  partial  shadows;  it  enlarges  the 
soul  without  ever  being  able  to  fill  it,  be- 
cause it  is  a  slender  and  limited  light.  But 
the  heavenly  light  enjoyed  by  the  blessed  is 
full,  perfect  and  inexhaustible,  giving  joy 
and  satiety  to  the  mind,  without  producing 
weariness  of  the  spirit.  Uncreated  light, 
infinite,  and  author  of  all  that  exists.  All 
luminous  things  participate  in  its  splendor; 
it  contains,  or  it  is,  the  principal  source  of 
the  two  states,  real  and  ideal;  it  is  the  lu- 

[92] 


How  We  Shall  Possess  God 

minous  torch  from  whence  all  created 
minds  receive  their  light,  and  it  is  the  pri- 
mary, efficient  source  that  imparts  being  to 
all  beings.  It  is  the  formal  and  adequate 
limit  of  all  intelligences.  It  is  the  whole 
of  uncreated  truth,  and,  because  it  contains 
them  as  their  source,  represents  all  created 
truth.  Therefore  in  this  divine  light  are 
contained  all  possible  truth.  Therefore  it 
is  metaphysically  impossible  for  the  human 
mind  to  have  obtained  that  divine  light  and 
not  be  completely  satisfied.  If  in  possessing 
all  of  the  truth  therein  contained  the  im- 
mense craving  of  the  created  mind  were 
not  fully  satisfied,  it  would  be  desiring 
something  beyond  the  essential  reason  of 
truth,  and  this  is  absurd;  as  absurd  as  for 
the  corporeal  eyes  to  see  the  invisible, 
namely,  that  which  has  neither  light  nor 
color,  nor  the  sense  of  touch  to  feel  the  in- 
tangible. No,  nothing  will  be  wanting  to 
the  mind,  when  in  heaven  it  comes  into  the 
possession  of  God;  eternally  happy,  it  will 
bask  in  that  immense  sea  of  light,  with 

[93] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

more  freedom  than  the  clouds  and  winds  as 
they  sail  beneath  the  blue  canopy  of  the 
firmament  without  ever  going  beyond  its 
immense  confines;  neither  will  it  be  able 
even  to  desire  it. 

Nothing  will  be  wanting  to  the  will  be- 
cause the  light  of  the  intellect  necessarily 
reflecting  upon  it,  will  cause  happiness  and 
perfect  satiety.  These  two  faculties  having 
been  created  in  order  to  guide  one  another, 
will  walk  in  perfect  harmony;  the  one  can- 
not still  be  on  its  way  if  the  other  has  al- 
ready reached  its  destination.  The  intellect 
being  eternally  filled  with  ecstasy  in  the  in- 
tuitive contemplation  of  the  uncreated 
truth,  the  will  also  must  of  necessity  be  rapt 
in  the  ineffable  enjoyment  of  the  Beautific 
Goodness. 

In  the  same  manner  as  the  Divine  Es- 
sence contains  in  itself  all  truth,  it  includes 
also  all  goodness,  created  and  uncreated, 
because  it  is  the  essential  goodness  and  ef- 
ficient source  of  all  goodness  and  beauty; 
and  in  the  same  manner  as  it  satiates  the 

[94] 


How  We  Shall  Possess  God 

mind  with  truth,  it  will  also  satisfy  the  will 
eternally  by  love  of  goodness  and  enjoyment 
of  beauty. 

St.  Augustine  spoke  with  great  certainty 
in  saying  of  heavenly  Beatitude  that  "it  is 
the  enjoyment  of  truth:  Gaudium  de  veri- 
tate."  (Confes.,  Bk.  LX,  chap.  XXXIII.) 

Nothing  'will  be  wanting  there  to  the 
heart  or  any  of  the  other  sensitive  facul- 
ties, whose  functions  complete  man's  per- 
fection. The  possession  of  God  does  not 
destroy  nature,  but,  on  the  contrary,  com- 
pletes it.  So  therefore,  besides  those  joys  of 
a  purely  spiritual  nature,  belonging  to  the 
mind  and  to  the  will,  there  will  exist  in 
heaven  all  those  corporeal  functions,  which, 
without  involving  any  kind  of  imperfection, 
unite  in  completing  human  nature.  Above 
all  we  shall  not  want  in  those  delicate  affec- 
tions of  holy  love,  that  tenderness  and  re- 
fined sensibility,  whose  seat  is  the  heart,  and 
which  frequently  form  the  distinctive  char- 
acter and  noble  crown  of  the  innocence  of 
saintly  souls. 

[95] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

Without  doubt  these  sensible  affections 
are  not  essential  to  blessedness,  nor  can  they 
augment  intensively  the  happiness  of  the 
Saints;  but  neither  do  they  impede  it. 
Material  joys  do  not  form  an  essential  part 
of  blessedness,  but  are  its  ultimate  comple- 
tion. 

There  are  some  orators  and  ascetics  who 
are  accustomed  to  represent  heaven  to  us  in 
such  a  purely  spiritual  and  abstract  man- 
ner, that  it  requires  all  the  effort  of  assidu- 
ous meditation  in  order  to  desire  it.  When 
treating  of  heaven  they  can  speak  of  noth- 
ing but  God,  infinite  in  goodness  and 
beauty,  surrounded  by  light,  and  holding 
the  mind  and  will  in  perpetual  ecstasy. 
Though  the  fancy,  the  heart  and  the  senses 
are  faculties  not  so  noble  as  intelligence  and 
will,  yet  they  are  not  to  be  despised,  nor 
considered  as  if  they  were  to  remain  in  a 
state  of  eternal  slumber. 

This  way  of  looking  at  heaven  may  be 
very  lofty,  yet  it  little  suffices  to  our  actual 
mode  of  being.  It  is  not  enough  to  expose 

[96] 


How  We  Shall  Possess  God 

a  truth;  we  must  expose  it  whole  and  entire, 
and  if  possible  (and  it  can  always  be  done), 
we  must  in  some  way  connect  it  with  the 
heart,  seeing  that  it  must  pass  through  this 
organ  in  order  to  be  believed  and  at  the 
same  time  put  into  practice.  In  the  present 
case,  the  whole  truth  and  conformable  with 
all  our  most  tender  sentiments,  is  that  when 
we  shall  fully  come  to  possess  God  in 
heaven,  in  addition  to  the  essential  pleasure 
of  the  mind  and  will,  we  shall  also  expe- 
rience the  pure  joys  of  the  senses,  and  espe- 
cially those  whose  source  is  the  heart.  This 
is  the  doctrine  of  St.  Thomas,  and  after  him, 
of  all  Christian  theologians;  and  it  is  the 
only  one  that  can  satisfy  all  the  yearnings 
and  aspirations  of  the  human  soul. 

"Who  knows,  then,"  says  Balmes,  "but 
that  the  will,  even  after  this  life,  will  be 
surrounded  by  affections  such  as  it  now 
feels,  well  purified  from  the  coarser  part 
which  come  from  its  union  here  below,  that 
oppresses  the  soul?  There  does  not  seem  to 
be  any  intrinsic  repugnance  in  this.  And 

[97] 


Saint  Teresa' 

if  philosophical  questions  could  be  solved 
by  sentiment,  I  would  dare  to  conjecture 
that  this  mutual  union  of  the  faculties 
which  we  call  heart  does  not  remain  in  the 
grave,  but  takes  flight  with  the  soul  to  the 
immortal  regions." 

And  Monsignor  Bougaud  beautifully  ex- 
presses this  truth:  "If  I  live  in  heaven, 
why  should  not  all  my  dear  ones  live  there 
also?  ...  I  shall  recognize  them  and  per- 
fect the  life  of  friendship,  love  and  pater- 
nity that  here  had  only  been  shadowed 
forth.  There  I  will  give  them  amplitude. 
As  a  son,  I  will  go  back  over  the  long  line 
of  my  ancestors  to  their  very  beginning,  and 
I  shall  recognize  them  all.  As  father,  I 
will  go  back  over  that  of  my  sons  until  the 
day  when  my  race  shall  have  become  ex- 
tinct, through  my  own  fault  or  because  God 
so  wills  it.  I  shall  again  find  my  friends 
and  all  those  I  have  loved,  and  then  I  will 
love  them  truly.  We  will  laugh  together 
over  what  we  then  called  love.  Such  is  my 
absolute  faith.  .  .  .  This  life  that  now  we 

[98] 


How  We  Shall  Possess  God 

here  enjoy,  of  the  family,  of  friendship, 
love  and  society,  will  be  that  of  the  mind, 
perfected." 

He  then  gathers  together  the  echoes  of 
tradition  and  of  the  Holy  Fathers,  and  from 
the  times  of  Tertullian  to  those  of  Fenelon, 
proves  that  all  great  souls  have  professed 
these  tender  truths,  and  he  is  provoked  at 
those  false  mystics,  who  freeze  the  soul,  and 
whose  foolish  doctrines  open  yawning  gulfs 
between  the  most  noble  instincts  of  the  hu- 
man heart  and  religion.  (Bougaud,  Chris- 
tianity and  Our  Own  Times.) 

As  to  just  when  those  joys  of  the  senses 
shall  begin  in  heaven,  according  to  the 
teaching  of  St.  Thomas,  the  Saints  will  not 
enjoy  sensible  delights  until  their  souls  shall 
have  become  reunited  to  their  bodies  after 
the  general  resurrection.  Until  then,  eter- 
nal bliss  will  not  attain  its  final  completion. 
But  at  all  events  this  great  truth  is  ever  cer- 
tain, that  sooner  or  later, 

Who  hath  God,  <wanteth  nothing. 
[99] 


Saint  Teresa's 

And  what  kind  of  function  and  sensible 
joys  will  there  be  in  heaven?  Leaving  aside 
the  extravagant  opinions,  there  is  no  doubt 
but  that  there  must  be  excluded  from 
heaven  all  those  sensible  functions,  and  con- 
sequently their  delights,  which  are  intended 
exclusively  to  provide  for  the  precise  indi- 
vidual or  specific  needs  of  human  life  in 
this  world.  We  will  not  have  the  use  of 
food  or  drink,  according  to  the  teachings  of 
the  apostle.  (Rom.  xiv,  17,  and  I  Cor.  vi, 

13.) 

Let  us  conclude  this  picture  with  these 
beautiful  words  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
who,  in  replying  to  the  Sadducees  when 
they  insidiously  asked  Him  if  in  heaven 
there  would  be  certain  pleasures,  gave  them 
this  admirable  lesson  of  chastity:  "You  err, 
not  knowing  the  Scriptures,  nor  the  power 
of  God.  For  in  the  resurrection  they  shall 
neither  marry  nor  be  married;  but  they 
shall  be  as  the  angels  of  God  in  heaven." 
(Matt,  xxii,  29,  30.) 

[100] 


How  We  Shall  Possess  God 

The  heart,  the  fancy,  the  sight,  the  hear- 
ing and  the  touch,  will  not  be  in  perpetual 
slumber,  but  in  most  perfect  and  sweet  use. 
The  perfection,  harmony  and  beauty  of 
their  actions  and  the  intensity  of  their  joys 
we  cannot  even  imagine.  David,  in  contem- 
plating the  glory  of  heaven,  in  prophetic 
vision  tells  us  that  his  soul  remained  ab- 
sorbed in  ecstasy,  and  in  conclusion  he 
adds:  "My  heart  and  my  flesh  have  re- 
joiced in  the  living  God."  (Psalm  Ixxxiii, 

3.) 

So,  according  to  Catholic  doctrine,  Beati- 
tude is  as  perfect  and  faultless  in  heaven  as 
it  is  fragrant  with  purity  and  replete  with 
beauty.  No  imperfection  shall  be  found  in 
human  nature  there,  nor  does  it  forget  the 
use  of  any  legitimate  faculty.  Whatever  of 
tenderness,  of  purity,  of  beauty  and  of  the 
sublime  that  the  human  soul  can  conceive 
and  desire  is  found  there,  raised  to  its 
highest  degree  of  perfection  and  joy. 

Do  you  wish  to  know,  my  soul,  what  you 
will  enjoy  when  you  come  to  possess  God? 

[101] 


Saint  Teresa's 

St.  Paul  saw  and  heard  it,  and  he  said  that 
human  language  had  not  words  to  express 
it.  Our  Holy  Mother  St.  Teresa  saw  and 
foretasted  it,  and  when  she  tried  to  express 
the  ineffable  joys  of  the  soul  united  to  God 
in  an  eternal  embrace,  she  could  only  falter 
through  these  beautiful  lines: 

Who  hath  God,  wanteth  nothing, 

for  therein  lies  the  fulfilment  of  all  that  the 
most  ardent  soul  can  desire. 

Oh!  restless  human  heart,  believe,  hope 
and  expand,  as  you  gaze  towards  heaven, 
for  high  though  your  thoughts  may  soar, 
you  will  never  be  left  wanting! 

If  you  love  and  dream  on  earth,  you  will 
be  very  unhappy,  because  a  predisposition 
to  devotional  tenderness  is  a  forerunner 
credential  of  suffering.  Look  at  all  beauti- 
ful and  tender  souls  and  you  will  almost  al- 
ways find  them  tearful.  For  every  friend- 
ship you  will  encounter  a  deception,  for 
every  illusion  a  disenchantment,  for  every 
favor  ingratitude.  Nearly  every  beautiful 

[102] 


How  We  Shall  Possess  God 

and  sublime  thought  is  in  reality  but  an  il- 
lusion, a  dream  that  vanishes  as  soon  as  it 
comes  in  contact  with  the  strong  glare  of 
prosaic  reality. 

But  if  you  place  your  love  and  hope  in 
heaven,  you  may  enlarge  the  horizon  of 
your  hopes,  even  unto  the  infinite,  because 
it  is  certain  that  whoever  directs  his 
thoughts  towards  heaven, 

"As  he  hopes,  so  he  obtains." 

Place  then  your  faith,  your  hope  and 
love  in  heaven,  and  heap  together  the 
dreams  of  your  peaceful  childhood,  ardent 
youth,  and  others  that  have  passed  by  with 
lightning  speed,  leaving  through  their  con- 
tact a  spark  of  holy  inspiration;  unite  them 
to  your  most  ardent  desires  of  truth  and 
holy  tenderness,  centuplicate  all  the  fancies 
of  the  human  soul,  and  as  much  as  you  are 
able  to  perceive  of  sublime,  beautiful,  ten- 
der and  pure — yet  you  will  find  all  and 
more  than  this  complete  in  heaven,  where 
nothing  is  wanting;  because  you  will  be 

[103] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

sweetly  inebriated  with  the  abundance  of 
the  house  of  God  and  you  will  drink  of  the 
torrents  of  divine  delights. 

For  there  you  will  possess  God,  who  is 
the  fountain  of  life,  and  in  every  case  this 
rule  holds  true,  in  heaven  and  upon  earth, 
in  poetry  and  in  dogma  and  in  ascetics,  that 

Who  hath  God,  ivanteth  nothing. 


[104] 


10 
God  alone  sufficeth. 

Why? ....  How  can.  harmony  be  established  amongst 

our  faculties?  ....  Dividing  Line  between  Catholicism 

and  Rationalism ....  The  Impotency  of  the  latter .... 

A  doctrine  degrading  to  human  dignity. 

God  alone  sufficeth. 

is  the  last  accent  from  the  divinely  inspired 
canticle  of  our  Holy  Mother  St.  Teresa. 

It  is  a  sigh  of  the  exiled  heart,  whose 
sweet  echoes  constantly  reverberate  in  all 
souls  who  meditate,  in  all  breasts  that  feel, 
and  in  all  hearts  that  love  and  hope. 

It  is  a  formula  simple  and  clear,  which 
summarizes  all  the  longings  of  the  soul  and 
the  ills  of  the  human  race,  whilst  one  wan- 
ders far  from  his  sweet  homeland,  heaven. 

This  thought  is  not  an  amplification  of 
the  former,  it  is  its  antithesis.  The  Saint, 
uplifted  on  the  wings  of  faith,  and  held  in 

[105] 


Saint  Teresa's 

an  ecstasy  of  lofty  contemplation,  knew 
practically  that  God  of  Himself,  without 
help  from  anyone,  could  fill  all  the  needs 
of  the  human  heart  in  this  world  and  satisfy 
the  immense  aspirations  of  our  souls  in  the 
next.  With  the  simplicity  and  tenderness 
of  a  virgin  and  the  grace  of  an  angel,  she 
sang  this  great  Christian  dogma,  saying: 

Who  hath  God,  wanteth  nothing. 

But  it  was  well  to  complete  and  illustrate 
further  this  consoling  truth,  by  placing  over 
against  it  the  impotency  of  all  other  beings 
to  satisfy  the  soul.  It  is  not  enough  to  com- 
fort the  heart,  by  telling  it  that  in  God  it 
will  find  the  fulfilment  of  all  its  desires.  As 
God  dwells  so  high  above,  and  as  it  is  al- 
ways hard  to  raise  the  heart  on  high,  it  is 
necessary  to  undeceive  it,  and  convince  it 
that  outside  of  God  it  will  never  be  able  to 
find  perfect  satisfaction.  Our  sublime 
Carmelite  Doctor  taught  this  second  truth 
of  the  general  impotency  of  all  beings  in 
order  to  satisfy  the  continual  aspirations  of 

[106] 


God  Alone  Sufficeth 

the  soul,  expressing  it  in  this  most  beautiful 
phrase,  which  is  a  compendium  of  philos- 
ophy and  history: 

God  alone  sufficeth. 

God  of  Himself  is  enough  to  constitute 
the  perfect  happiness  of  the  human  heart; 
but  outside  of  God,  nothing  sufficeth  it, 
nothing  fills  it. 

It  is  satisfied  neither  with  talents,  riches, 
honors,  pleasures,  men,  nor  angels;  there  is 
nothing  on  earth  in  time,  or  in  eternity,  out- 
side of  God,  that  can  pacify  the  spirit;  be- 
cause it  is  an  indisputable  truth  of  dogma, 
philosophy  and  history,  that 

God  alone  sufficeth. 

He  who  has  placed  his  thoughts,  his  heart 
and  his  confidence  in  God,  has  everything, 
whether  in  his  place  of  exile  or  in  heaven; 
for  he  possesses  God,  and  it  is  also  a  very 
certain  truth  that 

Who  hath  God,  wanteth  nothing. 
[107] 


Saint  Teresas  Boo\'Mar\ 

For  even  though  a  single  man  could  unite 
in  his  person  in  order  to  enjoy  them — at  the 
same  time  and  for  all  eternity — the  wisdom 
of  Solomon,  the  glory  of  Cyrus,  the  vic- 
tories of  Alexander,  the  richness  of  Croesus 
and  the  delights  of  Corinth,  it  would  be 
as  though  he  had  nothing;  for  all  human 
glory,  the  most  refined  pleasures,  and  all 
the  opulence  of  the  Orient,  only  entertain 
the  heart;  they  will  never  satisfy  it;  and 
they  soon  become  tedious  and  tiresome,  be- 
cause all  the  joys  of  creation  are  not  ade- 
quate to  the  capacity  of  the  rational  soul, 
inasmuch  as  these  joys  must  needs  be  lim- 
ited and  the  aspirations  of  the  soul  are  in- 
finite. On  this  account  the  ingenuity  of 
man,  which  tires  itself  in  seeking  means 
wherewith  to  pacify  the  human  heart  so  that 
it  may  be  happy  on  earth,  will  always  find 
itself  confronted  by  this  imperishable  truth: 

God  alone  sufficeth. 

A  man  may  have  at  his  disposal  men  with 
all  their  resources,  the  swords  of  generals, 

[108] 


God  Alone  Sufficeth 

the  science  of  scholars,  the  genius  of  artists, 
the  support  of  the  great  and  the  applause  of 
the  public;  talents,  fortunes  and  eloquence, 
cunning  and  all  the  gifts  of  nature;  but  if 
he  has  not  God,  he  is  nothing,  he  has  noth- 
ing, he  is  worth  nothing,  he  can  do  nothing; 
his  glory  will  all  fade  into  smoke;  it  will 
pass  by  like  a  shadow.  The  farthest  his 
royal  glory  will  ever  reach,  is  the  grave. 
There  it  will  at  last  end,  and  sooner  or  later 
God  will  mock  him  and  will  crush  his 
pride,  humble  his  arrogance,  and  play  with 
proud  human  might  as  the  depths  of  the 
ocean  sport  with  an  empty  shell,  or  as 
the  tempests  and  hurricanes  play  with  the 
fallen  leaves  of  autumn. 

And  so  the  answer  given  to  human  arro- 
gance by  philosophy  and  history,  indi- 
viduals and  nations,  reason  and  sentiment, 
poetry,  religion  and  genius,  will  ever  be 
that 

God  alone  sufficeth. 

And  why  is  God  alone  sufficient  for  man? 
Where  is  the  reason  of  this  dogma?  It  will 

[109] 


Saint  Teresa's 

be  found  in  the  very  depth  of  the  human 
soul. 

It  is  evident  to  all  who  even  occasionally 
hold  an  interior  conversation  with  self,  that 
our  being,  our  faculties  and  our  activities 
and  actions  are  out  of  balance. 

Our  strength  is  greater  than  our  action. 
The  strength  of  the  desires  we  feel  in  re- 
gard to  truth,  and  in  the  heart  in  regard  to 
goodness  and  beauty,  is  infinite.  The  action 
of  both  faculties,  which  is  nothing  more 
than  activity  itself  in  action,  is  always  lim- 
ited, because  action  cannot  extend  itself  be- 
yond its  source,  which,  like  all  created 
powers,  is  finite  and  limited.  We  want  to 
know  all  of  truth  and  love  all  that  is  lov- 
able. In  this  regard  our  activity  is  infinite ; 
it  does  not  limit  itself  to  any  definite  being, 
but  it  extends  itself  over  all;  and  while  it 
does  not  understand  everything,  and  does 
not  know  the  ultimate  reason  for  all  things, 
and  does  not  possess  them  all,  our  hearts 
never  rest. 

[HO] 


God  Alone  Suficeth 

But  naturally  we  cannot  understand  by 
actual  knowledge  the  whole  of  truth,  for  it 
is  certain  that  we  do  not  know  more  truths 
than  those  contained  or  expressed  in  an  idea 
which  we  are  actually  studying  or  contem- 
plating. We  cannot  say  that  which  we  do 
not  actually  think  of,  and  we  never  think  of 
ideas  of  a  different  nature  at  the  same  time. 
Our  thoughts  in  regard  to  divers  objects 
may  be  very  rapid,  but  they  are  always  suc- 
cessive. The  understanding,  then,  priv- 
ileged though  it  be,  actually  understands 
only  such  truths  as  are  manifested  to  it 
through  expressed  ideas.  But  all  ideas,  on 
account  of  their  very  nature,  are  limited, 
finite.  Therefore  an  idea  will  never  be  able 
to  disclose  to  the  understanding  the  whole 
truth,  which  is  infinite.  And,  as  on  the 
other  hand  the  heart  or  the  will  can  never 
go  beyond  the  rays  of  light  that  the  intel- 
ligence sends  them,  the  action  of  the  will 
must  also  be  always  limited;  it  will  never 
possess  with  the  grasp  of  love  more  than  a 
few  well  numbered  objects.  This  cannot 

[ill] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

satisfy  it.  Therefore,  man  abandoned  to  his 
own  strength  is  condemned  to  ever  desire 
infinite  truth,  boundless  love  and  unlimited 
beauty  without  ever  being  able  to  either 
understand  Truth,  that  is  to  say,  the  whole 
Truth,  or  possess  infinite  Goodness  or  con- 
template essential  Beauty.  It  glimpses 
more  than  it  is  able  to  see  and  understand, 
it  desires  more  than  it  is  able  to  obtain.  Its 
activity  or  desires  are  unlimited.  Its  na- 
ture, its  being,  and  consequently  its  action 
or  activity,  are  limited.  There  is,  then,  dis- 
agreement between  its  desires  and  its  ac- 
tions; between  its  actions  and  its  nature. 

Here  lies  the  why  of  the  heart's  anguish 
and  the  soul's  restlessness  in  this  world.  In 
order  to  quiet  them  we  must  counterbalance 
our  nature  with  our  desires.  We  can  well 
say  of  human  nature  what  the  illustrious 
Lacordaire  has  affirmed  of  all  beings  in 
general:  "An  action  superior  to  its  activity 
is  impossible;  and  inferior  action  does  not 
suffice  for  men;  an  action  equal  to  their  ac- 
tivity is  the  only  thing  that  will  set  them  at 

[112] 


God  Alone  Sufficeth 

rights  with  themselves  and  with  the  rest  of 
the  universe."  (Conference  on  the  Interior 
Life  of  God.} 

And  how  can  this  beautiful  harmony  be 
established,  how  adjust  immense  desires  or 
boundless  activity,  to  a  nature  and  actions 
essentially  limited  and  finite? 

We  must  uplift  nature  or  the  faculties, 
and  consequently  the  power  of  action;  or 
lower  their  desires  of  activity.  In  some 
way  either  nature  and  the  faculties  must  be 
made  infinite,  or  the  desires  finite.  Behold 
the  outline  of  the  great  problem — the  tor- 
ment and  at  the  same  time  the  comfort  of 
the  human  spirit. 

Here  is  the  dividing  line  that  separates 
naturalism  or  rationalism  from  Cathol- 
icism. The  former  wants  to  establish  har- 
mony in  our  being,  by  quenching  all  idea, 
all  sentiment  of  the  infinite;  erasing  all 
traces  of  God  imprinted  in  our  souls.  It 
pretends  to  counterbalance  this  most  dis- 
tressful world  of  the  human  spirit,  not  by 

[113] 


Saint  Teresa's 

raising  what  is  less  noble  to  what  is  most 
perfect  and  lofty;  but  on  the  contrary  by 
lowering  what  is  highest  to  what  is  less  per- 
fect, the  spirit  to  matter.  It  takes  away  the 
infinite  element,  so  that  having,  unlike  the 
brute,  more  than  material  and  coarse  ele- 
ments, tendencies  and  aspirations,  we  shall 
have  in  our  soul  a  clear  distinction  between 
virtue  and  vice,  between  the  temporal  and 
eternal,  between  the  aspirations  and  our  ef- 
fort to  satisfy  them. 

To  rationalists  the  infinite  is  but  a  foolish 
fancy;  to  think  of  it,  desire  it  and  love  it, 
is  a  chronic  disease  of  the  human  spirit.  To 
cure  it,  rationalists  hold  that  our  heart  must 
be  restrained  to  the  end  that  it  may  never 
think  of  anything  beyond  the  confines  of 
time  and  of  matter.  So  that  not  thinking 
of  God,  nor  desiring  anything  beyond  the 
material  and  sensible,  earth  would  suffice 
us;  on  it,  they  imagine,  we  would  be  con- 
tented and  satisfied,  live  in  complete  peace, 
happiness  and  freedom. 

But  it  will  not  be  possible  for  rational- 

[114] 


God  Alone  Sufficeth 

ism  to  complete  its  work;  it  would  be  nec- 
essary to  recast  human  nature  and  form  it 
in  another  and  an  impossible  mould.  That 
divine  breath  of  life  which  God  infused 
into  the  first  man  and  (at  the  moment  of 
creating  them)  into  each  of  our  souls, 
naturally  and  spontaneously  tends  and  re- 
turns to  its  source,  God.  It  is  the  law  of 
the  spirit's  gravitation  that  even  uncon- 
sciously acts  upon  them,  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  the  law  of  universal  gravity  acts  upon 
the  molecules  of  bodies.  Unbelief,  syste- 
matic scepticism,  the  disorders  of  a  vicious 
life,  may  for  a  time  cause  the  desire  for  the 
infinite  and  the  necessity  of  seeking  God,  to 
lie  dormant;  but  to  obliterate  them — never. 
The  serious  disorders  of  life,  the  clamor  of 
the  passions,  can  neutralize  the  attraction 
of  spirits  towards  God;  sever  it — never. 
Men  are  incredulous  whilst  they  do  not 
rightly  think  of  themselves.  They  do  not 
hear  the  promptings  of  their  own  hearts 
when  they  do  not  want  to  listen,  because 
they  are  afraid  of  its  intimate  reproaches, 

[115] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

but  sooner  or  later  these  will  make  them- 
selves heard. 

A  great  writer  has  said,  that  in  order  not 
to  believe,  for  example,  in  the  existence  of 
the  soul,  such  a  great  effort  is  required  that 
the  entire  human  race  is  incapable  of  mak- 
ing it,  because  "at  the  least  distraction  we 
find  ourselves  instinctively  believing  again 
in  the  soul."  Great  possible  effort  and  at- 
tention are  required  not  to  desire,  in  any 
way,  the  infinite  and  eternal.  If  the  ration- 
alist's mind  wanders  from  its  efforts  to  dis- 
believe, it  immediately  thinks  of  God;  and 
very  easily  does  a  prayer  escape  his  lips 
when  he  suffers  acute  pain  or  serious  loss. 
Then  he  unconsciously  confesses  he  is 
wrong,  or  is  ashamed  of  his  bad  logic. 
When  some  sudden  inspiration  of  truth 
flashes  through  his  mind,  without  giving 
him  time  to  reflect  that  it  would  best  suit 
his  purpose  to  feign  unbelief,  he  readily  ac- 
cepts it.  If  the  sorrows  and  avowals  that 
have  escaped  from  the  lips  of  the  most 
marked  rationalists  and  greatest  enemies  of 

[116] 


God  Alone  Sufficeth 

Catholicism  were  recorded,  numberless  vol- 
umes would  be  written.  Through  the 
clouds  of  their  unbelief  they  catch  a  glimpse 
of  something  beyond;  and  in  spite  of  them- 
selves they  love  it,  or  at  least  they  would 
like  to  have  it — wishing  to  love  it  and  feel 
it  as  others  happier  than  they  love  and  feel 
it.  They  are  in  an  agony  of  soul,  because 
they  are  deprived  of  the  breath  of  super- 
natural life;  and  on  this  account  the  mind 
lingers  in  a  never-ending  death;  because  in 
that  vague  desire  for  the  infinite  which  tor- 
ments it,  the  soul  is  shown  to  be  immortal. 
For  it  suffers  in  this  world  in  which  its  ade- 
quate destiny  does  not  exist,  because  it  loves 
to  possess  the  infinite,  which  is  as  natural 
to  it  as  is  its  physical  life.  It  is  a  great 
truth  that  in  this  world  man  even  by  intui- 
tion prays  and  weeps.  (Lacordaire,  Letters 
to  a  Youth,  first  letter.) 

To  all  those  men  who  persist  in  their  un- 
belief, and  in  withdrawing  from  heaven  try 
to  be  happy  on  earth,  and  in  the  same  man- 
ner to  those  who  believe, 

God  alone  can  suffice. 
[117] 


Saint  Teresa's 

When  they  think  they  have  already  found 
enough  light,  warmth  and  beauty  on  earth, 
and  that  they  have  established  (as  they 
fancy)  perfect  harmony  in  the  soul,  oblit- 
erating all  thoughts  of  heaven,  then  nature 
itself  will  take  them  in  charge  and  give 
them  the  lie  by  causing  restlessness;  and 
when  the  paroxysms  of  unbelief  have 
passed,  their  soul  will  cry  out  to  them,  as 
did  the  soul  of  the  poet  of  Sorrento.  Light! 
more  light! 

No;  rationalism  will  never  establish  har- 
mony in  the  human  heart,  because  it  can 
never  find  anything  to  make  it  happy,  to 
suffice  its  longings. 

Catholicism  has  solved  this  great  prob- 
lem in  such  a  way,  that  it  is  only  necessary 
to  trace  it  in  order  to  see  its  divine  origin, 
for  man  is  by  nature  incapable  of  fully  con- 
ceiving such  lofty  things. 

The  Catholic  solution  is  as  opposed  to 
that  of  rationalism,  as  truth  to  error,  as  light 
to  darkness.  It  raises  the  nature  and  the  fac- 
ulties, and  consequently  the  actions  of  man, 

[118] 


God  Alone  Sufficeth 

to  the  height  of  the  desires  or  aspirations  of 
his  soul.  Catholicism  makes  the  faculties 
and  actions  in  a  certain  way  infinite,  like 
our  aspirations  and  desires;  and  it  shows 
them  their  adequate  objects.  In  this  way 
harmony  is  established  in  the  heart. 

Rationalism  pretends  to  harmonize  by 
lowering  what  is  most  uplifting  in  man. 
Catholicism  establishes  it  by  uplifting  all 
that  was  lowest  in  us. 

Rationalism  does  not  want  the  heart  to 
desire  or  aspire,  except  to  what  it  can  ac- 
quire by  its  own  powers.  Catholicism  up- 
lifts man,  ennobling  his  nature  and  facul- 
ties, so  that  our  actions  may  be  in  propor- 
tion to  the  objects  of  the  most  noble  aspira- 
tions of  the  soul. 

The  series  of  intimate  relations  which 
God  establishes  with  man  for  this  divine  up- 
lifting of  our  being,  constitutes  a  group  of 
august  and  adorable  mysteries,  whose  study 
has  exercised  the  most  privileged  spirits 
and  ravished  with  sweetest  consolations, 

[119] 


Saint  Teresa's 


souls  who  have  contemplated  them  with 
faith.  For  the  present  we  may  only  lift  a 
corner  of  the  veil  that  covers  them;  and 
then  we  adore  them  with  sincere  faith  until 
the  day  comes  when  we  shall  see  clearly  and 
distinctly  all  these  marvels  of  the  invisible 
world  of  grace. 


[120] 


Sublimity  oj  Catholic  teaching ....  Doctrine  of  grace 

.  .  .  .The  sons  of  God.  .  .  .Their  long  infancy .  .  .  .St. 

Paul's  teaching ....  How  Jew   reach   their  greatest 

spiritual  age  in  this  world.  .  .  .In  heaven  alone,  God 

will  suffice  Jor  the  complete 

happiness  of  all. 

X^N  ORDER  to  establish  harmony  in  our 
s-^l  heart,  God  Our  Lord  begins  by  uplift- 
ing or  dignifying  the  nature  of  our  souls 
by  means  of  divine  grace.  Grace  is  a  par- 
ticipation of  divinity,  a  supernatural  form 
given  to  us  which,  added  to  our  soul,  deifies 
and  causes  it  to  be  born  again  to  a  certain 
divine  life.  By  the  infusion  of  the  human 
form,  which  is  the  soul,  we  are  born  to  hu- 
man life;  and  by  the  infusion  of  sanctifying 
grace,  which  is  a  deific  form,  we  are  born 
to  a  supernatural  and  divine  life. 

This  is  the  manner  in  which  the  profound 
meaning  of  the  language  of  the  Bible  and 
of  the  Holy  Fathers  of  the  Church,  is 

[121] 


Saint  Teresa's 

understood  when  it  calls  those  who  are  in 
the  grace  of  God,  deific  spirits  and  sons  of 
God.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  tells  us  that 
unless  we  are  born  again  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
we  shall  not  be  saved  (John  iii,  5).  St. 
John  speaks  of  those  who  have  been  born 
and  preserve  the  seed  of  divinity,  which 
renders  them  incapable  of  sin  and  makes 
them  the  sons  of  God  (I  John  iii,  9).  And 
St.  Peter  says  that  God  has  bestowed  upon 
us  many  graces,  so  that  we  may  be  made 
partakers  of  the  divine  nature  (II  Peter, 

i,4). 

The  Holy  Fathers,  authentic  interpreters 
of  Revelation  and  of  the  divine  mysteries, 
have  had  no  difficulty  in  using  a  language 
in  which  they  consider  man  raised  to  the 
honors  of  a  participated  divinity.  "The 
Holy  Ghost  infuses  a  certain  divine  form 
in  us,  and  the  same  Holy  Spirit  reforming 
us  by  sanctification,  that  is,  through  grace, 
the  character  of  God  and  the  Father  shines 
forth  in  our  souls."  Such  is  the  language  of 
St.  Cyril  of  Alexandria.  No  less  conclusive 

[122] 


Sublimity  of  Catholic  Teaching 

is  the  great  St.  Ambrose:  "With  reason  did 
one  say:  We  belong  to  His  same  race 
[God's],  for  He  has  made  us  His  own  line- 
age, so  that  we  may  seek  that  divine  distinc- 
tion that  is  not  far  from  each  one  of  us" 
(Epistle  xliii,  No.  10).  The  same  doctrine 
was  expounded  by  St.  Leo  the  Great  in  this 
pathetic  exclamation:  "Recognize,  O  Chris- 
tian! thy  dignity.  And  having  been  made 
a  participant  of  the  divine  nature,  thou  wilt 
not  wish,  by  unworthy  conduct,  to  return  to 
thy  former  vileness"  (Serm.  21,  In  Nativ. 
Domini). 

And  finally  the  Church,  gathered  to- 
gether in  the  august  assembly  of  Trent, 
placed  the  seal  of  infallibility  on  her  teach- 
ing of  these  consoling  truths  (Sess.  VI,  Can. 
XI).  She  condemned  the  doctrine  of  Prot- 
estants who,  set  on  lowering  human  nature, 
affirmed  that  God  justified  or  raised  man  in 
a  manner  purely  extrinsic,  changing  him  in- 
trinsically. If  a  prince  raise  a  pauper  to 
the  dignity  of  adopted  son,  this  favor  of 
course  does  not  change  the  man's  real  na- 

[123] 


Saint  Teresa's 

ture.  Fine  raiment  may  be  able  to  hide  his 
defects;  but  in  reality  he  will  be  the  same  as 
before,  infirm  and  ignorant,  if  he  was  that 
way  formerly.  This  is  the  way  Luther  and 
Calvin  understood  the  grace  of  our  divine 
elevation  to  the  dignity  of  sons  of  God.  The 
Church  condemned  this  interpretation  as 
false  and  heretical.  Therefore  grace  changes 
and  raises  the  very  nature  of  our  soul, 
changing  it  really  and  intrinsically,  and,  as 
it  were,  deifying  it;  she  concedes  to  it  a  dig- 
nity and  perfection  in  a  certain  way  infinite. 

Nature  thus  being  dignified,  it  follows 
that  the  faculties  should  also  be  uplifted; 
for  if  the  natural  faculties  emanate  from 
the  nature  of  the  soul,  so  also  from  this 
second  deific  nature  which  through  grace  is 
added  to  the  soul,  flow  divine  faith,  hope 
and  charity  and  other  supernatural  gifts, 
which  go  to  enlighten  the  understanding 
and  sanctify  the  will,  and  to  change  both  of 
these  faculties  intrinsically,  raising  them  to 
a  supernatural  perfection,  and  making  them 

[124] 


Sublimity  of  Catholic  Teaching 

capable  of  courageous  acts  proportionate  to 
the  uncreated  Truth  and  Goodness. 

Thus  begins  the  establishment  of  that 
coveted  harmony  of  our  infinite  desires  with 
our  faculties;  and  hence  the  nature  of  the 
soul  possesses  also  a  certain  infinity.  Those 
who  have  been  elevated  in  this  manner 
practice  certain  acts  that  the  rest  of  men  can- 
not practice.  Yes;  with  grace,  that  is  to  say, 
supernatural  faith,  hope  and  charity,  we 
perform  acts  which  exceed  the  natural  ca- 
pacity of  man. 

Christians  believe  truths  which  the  rest 
of  men  cannot  even  conceive,  considering 
them  as  the  height  of  the  absurd  and  the 
ridiculous;  and  this  Catholic  belief  has 
been  so  intimate  and  sincere,  that  it  has  not 
only  regulated  all  the  customs  of  nations, 
but  the  faithful  have  joyfully  sanctified  it 
with  the  blood  of  eighteen  millions  of 
martyrs.  Is  this  not  supernatural?  They 
have  also  loved  with  sweetest  pleasure  and 
greatest  joy,  those  classes  of  men  always 
contemptible  to  the  rest  of  the  human  race 

[125] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

— the  poor,  the  sick  and  the  infirm.  They 
have  not  only  forgiven,  but  also  loved  their 
enemies;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  world  and 
the  desert,  in  palace  and  in  hut,  in  all  climes 
and  nations,  and  doing  violence  to  their 
natural  temperaments,  they  have  practiced 
the  two  virtues  most  opposed  to  human 
nature;  humility,  the  most  profound  and 
sincere,  and  chastity  carried  to  its  highest 
degree  of  virginal  purity.  Christians  alone 
have  done  all  this.  If  this  is  not  super- 
natural, how  is  it  that  it  cannot  be  prac- 
ticed except  by  souls  who  willingly  embrace 
the  cross  of  Christ,  who  live  beneath  its 
shadow  and  who  nourish  themselves  with 
its  sap  transmitted  through  the  sacraments, 
which  is  the  vivifying  water  of  grace  and  of 
faith,  hope  and  love? 

I  foresee  the  objection  that  will  naturally 
occur  to  whoever  reads  the  preceding  lines. 
The  majority  of  pious  people  do  not  seem 
raised  to  a  supernatural  order,  for  they 
often  have  the  same  or  even  greater  defects 
than  the  rest  of  men,  and  they  take  little  or 

[126] 


'  Sublimity  of  Catholic  Teaching 

no  care  to  practice  charity,  holy  purity  and 
the  other  virtues  here  distinguished  as  ef- 
fects of  grace. 

This  objection  has  no  other  merit  than 
that  of  being  very  pretentious  and  as  such, 
sophistical.  Combine  the  terms  and  it  will 
hardly  deserve  the  honor  of  being  answered. 

For  what  is  understood  here  by  sons  of 
God,  that  is,  by  men  who  are  actually  raised 
to  a  supernatural  order?  Not  those  who 
feign  piety;  not  those  who  are  Christians 
by  conviction,  but  rather  through  conven- 
tionalism or  other  defective  motive.  Neither 
those  who  live  habitually  in  mortal  sin,  al- 
though they  preserve  their  baptismal  name 
of  Christian.  These  by  sin  descend  from 
the  high  dignity  of  sons  of  God.  They  pre- 
serve neither  the  grace,  hope  nor  charity 
that  formerly  raised  them  to  a  supernatural 
order.  If  they  have  any  faith  left,  it  must 
be  a  dead  faith. 

Of  all  these  the  true  sons  of  God  can  say 
with  St.  John  that  they  are  with  us,  but  they 
are  not  of  us  (I  Epist.  John  ii,  19).  The 

[127] 


Saint  Teresa's 

objection  then  touches  only  the  scant  num- 
ber of  practical  and  sincere  Christians,  who 
preserve  in  their  souls  the  divine  gift  of 
grace.  That  these,  too,  may  have  their  weak 
points  and  even  great  falls  that  cause  them 
to  lose  sanctifying  grace,  is  not  only  a  prac- 
tical truth  that  is  evident  every  day,  but 
also  a  dogma  of  faith. 

Whosoever  would  be  scandalized  at  this 
would  give  proof  of  little  knowledge  of  the 
human  heart  and  of  the  matter  under  dis- 
cussion; because  the  divine  life  in  virtuous 
souls,  while  we  are  still  in  this  world,  does 
not  reach  its  full  development;  it  is,  as  it 
were,  probationary;  and  in  the  meantime 
man  is  weak,  like  a  child,  in  this  stage  of 
life,  and  he  therefore  too  often  falls  many 
times  and  does  not  behave  as  a  son  of  God, 
although  he  is  so  in  reality.  One  must  be 
patient  with  him,  as  a  mother  with  her  son, 
until  he  acquires  strength  enough  to  stand 
erect  and  walk  alone. 

"My  little  children,  of  whom  I  am  in 
labor  again,  until  Christ  be  formed  in  you" : 

[128] 


Sublimity  of  Catholic  Teaching 

that  is,  divine  life  of  Christ  (Gal.  iv,  19). 
Such  is  the  beautiful  and  tender  expression 
of  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  which  sums 
up  all  the  great  cares  of  the  Catholic  min- 
istry of  souls  during  the,  at  times,  lengthy 
childhood  of  man  in  the  life  of  faith,  of 
grace  and  of  charity.  And  whoever  does 
not  feel  in  his  heart  that  strength  of  pa- 
tience and  warmth  of  faith  and  charity, 
necessary  to  co-operate  in  the  spiritual  and 
divine  regeneration  of  souls  and  assist  them 
in  their  infancy,  is  not  suited  for  the  Cath- 
olic apostolate. 

Whilst  man  is  a  child  in  his  physical  life, 
he  cannot  perform  all  the  physical  actions 
of  a  man;  in  many  he  is  not  unlike  the 
brute.  While  the  Christian  is  a  child  in 
the  divine  life,  he  does  not  always  act  like 
a  full-grown  son  of  God;  in  many  things 
he  is  not  unlike  the  rest  of  men.  It  is 
enough  for  me  to  see  that  a  child  only  once 
performs  a  manly  deed,  to  convince  me  that 
he  is  now  approaching  adolescence;  it  is 
also  enough  for  me  to  know  that  some  men 

[129] 


Sm'nt  Teresa's  Boo\'lAar\ 

have  once  performed  deeds  that  are  above 
human  strength,  to  convince  me  that  they 
are  something  more  than  men.  The  falls 
or  weak  points  they  may  have,  show  me 
that  they  are  still  children  in  the  divine  life 
and  not  that  they  are  bereft  of  it  or  have 
never  had  it.  Those  who,  here  on  earth, 
have  already  become  very  strong  in  this 
divine  life,  do  not  fail;  we  call  them  saints, 
but  saints  are  very  scarce.  The  rest  of  us 
are  only  children  in  virtue,  as  it  is  super- 
natural virtue;  and  as  children  we  are 
bound  to  stumble  and  fall ;  but  our  defects 
can  scandalize  only  those  who  are  yet  them- 
selves children  in  the  science  of  the  human 
heart  and  in  the  arcana  of  holy  knowledge. 
For  me,  it  is  enough  to  know  that  there  has 
existed  on  earth  a  St.  Teresa  of  Jesus,  a  St. 
Vincent  of  Paul,  a  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  or 
a  St.  Francis  de  Sales  and  that  there  are 
many  souls  who  in  the  secret  of  the  home 
or  the  cloister,  practice  virtues  that  man  of 
himself  is  incapable  of  performing.  These 
souls  are  sufficient  proof  to  convince  me  that 

[130] 


Sublimity  of  Catholic  Teaching 

God  sanctifies  man,  raises  him  above  the 
ordinary  strength  and  conditions  of  human 
nature. 

As  even  supernatural  life  is  not  perfect 
in  this  world,  neither  is  the  equilibrium  or 
harmony  it  must  produce,  always  percept- 
ible in  human  hearts.  It  is  true  that  it  is 
always  greater  than  in  the  rest  of  men. 
Neither  Sardanapalus,  nor  Augustus,  nor 
any  lover  of  earthly  pleasures  have  been 
able  to  say  with  as  much  reason  as  the  most 
persecuted  of  the  apostles,  in  the  midst  of 
his  imprisonments  and  trials:  /  am  filled 
with  comfort:  I  exceedingly  abound  with 
joy  (II  Cor.  vii,  4).  If  there  is  a  man  in 
this  world  in  whom  fancy  and  reason,  the 
intellect  and  the  will,  the  heart  and  the 
senses,  actions  and  duty  and  conscience,  are 
in  complete  harmony,  he  is  surely  a  son  of 
God  who  lives  in  the  shadow  of  the  cross, 
and  who  nourishes  his  soul  with  the  spir- 
itual dew  of  heaven. 

"No  wonder  it  has  been  said  that  the 
heart  of  the  believer  is  a  continuous  feast, 

[131] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

that  it  derives  more  joy  from  what  it  denies 
itself  than  the  unbeliever  from  what  he  al- 
lows himself;  that  even  tears  of  penance  are 
a  source  of  more  joy  than  were  the  defects 
that  gave  rise  to  their  being  shed"  (Cous- 
sette,  The  Good  Sense  of  Faith,  and  part, 
book  3,  chap.  3rd). 

But  pure  and  believing  hearts,  even 
though  they  would  not  exchange  their  holy 
peace  or  inner  joys,  or  a  single  portion  of 
their  pure  happiness  for  all  the  pleasures  of 
the  world,  are  yet  not  satisfied;  they  aspire 
to  an  eternal  peace  and  an  infinite  joy.  To 
all  those  who  live  by  faith  and  hope  the 
apostle  of  love  has  said:  Dearly  beloved, 
ive  are  now  the  sons  of  God;  and  it  hath 
not  yet  appeared  what  ive  shall  be  (I  Epist. 
John  iii,  2). 

This  completion  of  life  will  be  in  heaven, 
where  the  grace  that  has  been  infused  in 
us  here  on  earth  will  not  only  remain,  but 
develop  all  its  vital  power  within  the  facul- 
ties of  the  soul;  in  the  will,  where  it  will 
increase  the  supernatural  form  of  charity, 

[132] 


Sublimity  of  Catholic  Teaching 

which  will  then  be  free  to  unfold  itself, 
without  obstacles,  in  acts  of  the  most  in- 
tense love  for  infinite  goodness  and  beauty; 
in  the  intellect,  where  the  supernatural 
form  of  faith  will  be  substituted  by  a  di- 
vine light  of  glory,  that  will  raise  the  hu- 
man understanding  to  such  high  perfection, 
as  to  make  it  capable  of  seeing  with  intu- 
itive and  immediate  vision  the  very  essence 
of  infinite  truth,  verifying  what  was  so  ec- 
statically sung  by  the  Prophet-King  (Psalm 
xxxv,  10)  :  In  thy  light  we  shall  see  light. 
Without  this  supernatural,  deifying  and  up- 
lifting light,  the  understanding  would  never 
be  able  to  know  God  rightly — the  essential 
Truth  Who  contains  in  Himself  all  truth; 
he  could  have  only  some  representation  or 
image  of  God.  But  as  every  image  or  repre- 
sentation is  limited  by  its  very  nature,  the 
knowledge  of  God  by  means  of  ideas  or 
images  such  as  we  have  at  present,  although 
seen  through  the  eyes  of  faith,  is  of  necessity 
finite  and  limited.  The  understanding, 
knowing  God  in  this  manner,  does  not  know 

[1331 


Saint  Teresa's 

the  whole  truth,  for  it  knows  infinite  truth 
under  a  finite  form,  which  can  in  no  way 
satisfy  him. 

As  the  heart,  on  the  other  hand,  cannot 
extend  itself  in  loving  more  than  the  under- 
standing in  knowing,  therefore,  while  the 
knowledge  of  God  is  as  yet  imperfect,  man 
will  love  Him  under  a  conception  that  is 
also  limited.  Neither  can  such  a  love  sat- 
isfy man's  infinite  aspirations  towards  good- 
ness and  beauty.  In  this  way  the  lofty  as- 
pirations of  our  soul  would  be  impotent, 
and  equilibrium  and  harmony  could  never 
be  eternally  established  in  it. 

But  the  human  understanding,  deified 
and  strengthened  by  that  supernatural  light, 
becomes  so  uplifted,  that  (what  before  was 
impossible  to  it)  to  know  without  enigmas 
or  images  the  very  essence  of  truth,  becomes 
most  easy  and  natural  to  it.  God  imme- 
diately unites  Himself  in  heaven  to  the  hu- 
man intellect,  which  sees  in  Him  totally 
and  perfectly  the  infinite  truth  and  all  cre- 

[134] 


Sublimity  of  Catholic  Teaching 

ated  truths  whose  knowledge  it  can  possibly 
desire. 

Thus,  and  only  thus,  by  raising  human 
nature  unto  the  infinite,  can  that  perfect 
equilibrium  of  mind  be  established,  which 
Lacordaire  says  must  exist  between  our  ac- 
tion and  activity,  so  that  the  heart  may  be 
happy  and  the  cravings  of  the  soul  pacified. 
Our  activity  or  our  infinite  desires  will  be 
able  to  reach  their  infinite  objects,  because 
infinite,  in  a  certain  way,  will  be  the  actions 
of  our  faculties  dignified  by  the  super- 
natural forms  of  the  light  of  glory  and  of 
charity;  and  these  same  faculties  will  be 
able  to  be  thus  uplifted,  because  the  essence 
of  the  soul  from  which  they  spring  will  be 
regenerated  and  deified  by  the  divine  form 
of  sanctifying  grace. 

God  alone  can  produce  all  this  series  of 
supernatural  operations  in  our  soul,  be- 
cause only  He  can  bestow  on  us  grace,  the 
foundation  of  our  happiness  and  greatness. 
God  alone  can  grant  the  supernatural  light, 
which  strengthens  the  intellect.  In  God 

[135] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

alone  can  be  found  all  created  and  un- 
created truth.  Therefore  only  God  can 
present  it  to  the  intellect;  and  as  only  by 
knowing  the  truth  in  this  way  can  the  hu- 
man soul  find  rest,  we  shall  conclude  by 
uniting  to  the  Canticle  of  our  beloved 
Mother  St.  Teresa  the  testimony  of  Sacred 
Theology  and  Metaphysics. 

It  is  very  gratifying  to  our  hearts  to  prove 
that  these  two  sciences,  the  most  noble  the 
human  soul  can  cultivate,  demonstrate  what 
our  Mother  taught  when  she  sang,  that  in 
order  to  fill  the  immense  capacity  of  the 
human  heart, 

God  alone  sufficeth. 


[136] 


12 


Confirmation  of  history  and  daily  experience .... 
Conclusion. 

©UR  Holy  Mother's  Canticle  could  not 
lack  the  testimony  of  history  and  of 
daily  experience  which  so  beautifully 
expresses  a  truth  of  Catholic  dogma,  dem- 
onstrated  by  Theology   and    Metaphysics. 
For  history  also  proves  that  in  order  to  quiet 
the  restlessness  of  the  human  soul  only 

God  alone  sufficeth. 

A  simple,  angelic  child  of  four  summers, 
seated  beneath  a  tree  in  the  garden,  whilst 
a  tiny  bird  trilled  forth  his  joyous  song,  was 
saying  to  her  little  brother  who  wept  incon- 
solably  for  his  sweet  mother,  who  had  just 
died:  "Why  do  you  cry  so,  my  little 
brother?  See,  that  little  bird  doesn't  cry: 
hear  how  happily  he  sings!" 

"The  birds  sing  here,"  replied  the  sad 
little  orphan,  "because  there  is  no  other 

[137] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

heaven  for  them.  We  who  are  of  heaven 
weep  here  on  earth."  (Marshall,  Hope  for 
Those  Who  Weep,  chap.  XIV.) 

It  would  not  be  possible  to  express  in 
more  beautiful  and  simple  form  such  a  pro- 
found and  consoling  truth. 

O  Divine  and  Holy  Catholic  Religion! 
May  you  be  forever  blest!  Because  you 
cause  to  awaken,  even  in  the  hearts  of  in- 
fants, truths  so  sublime  that  neither  the 
world's  greatest  scholars,  nor  geniuses  who 
thought  themselves  inspired,  could  even 
glimpse  them.  You  explain  to  us  the  cause 
of  sorrow,  you  give  us  the  reason  for  our 
constant  restlessness,  and  you  show  us  our 
eternal  destinies.  You  are  not  compre- 
hended by  scholars  who  know  not  how  to 
believe,  but  you  are  understood  even  by 
little  children  who  know  how  to  feel  and 
love. 

If  the  birds  sing,  it  is  because  for  them 
there  is  no  other  heaven  but  this  earth  of 
theirs;  man  has  the  exclusive  privilege  in 

[138] 


Confirmation  of  History 

this  world  to  think  and  weep,  because  he  is 
the  only  being  who  is  a  pilgrim,  and  the 
only  one  who  has  need  of  something  nobler. 
Nothing  on  earth  suffices  him,  because  his 
destiny  is  higher. 

All  other  beings  of  creation  have  reached 
here  their  proper  destiny,  and  have  been 
in  possession  of  it  from  the  first  moment  of 
their  creation.  The  stars  have  as  their 
proper  sphere  the  circumference  of  their 
orbits;  the  birds,  the  regions  of  the  air;  the 
fish,  the  paths  of  the  sea;  the  flowers  and 
shrubs,  their  climates  and  seasons;  and  the 
wild  beasts,  their  caves  in  the  forests.  They 
are  in  possession  of  their  destinies,  and  for 
this  reason  they  neither  weep  nor  progress. 
Everything  moves  in  concert  and  harmony 
in  the  universe.  The  human  heart  alone  is 
in  confusion  and  disorder;  man  is  the  only 
discordant  note  in  this  universal  concert. 
All  other  beings  enjoy  themselves  each  in 
his  own  special  way;  they  laugh  and  sing 
because  they  want  nothing.  Only  man 

[139] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

weeps,  sighs  and  suffers,  because  nothing 
suffices  him. 

Man  is  the  most  mysterious  being  of  the 
universe.  All  other  beings  already  possess 
their  relative  perfection,  all  are  perfect  in 
their  order,  that  is,  they  are  completly  fin- 
ished. Man  alone,  in  spite  of  his  pride, 
must  recognize  himself  as  imperfect.  He  is 
as  yet  in  his  infancy,  in  process  of  comple- 
tion, according  to  the  language  of  philos- 
ophers. He  is  imperfect  in  all  his  faculties, 
because  he  feels  satisfied  in  none.  He  is  an 
edifice  partly  begun.  It  is  true  that  in  his 
beginning  he  has  already  more  absolute 
perfection  than  all  other  beings  in  creation, 
but  what  he  has  yet  to  acquire  is  much 
more;  he  is  the  most  imperfect  of  all  beings 
and  yet  the  most  perfectible  of  all.  The 
most  imperfect,  because  he  does  not  feel 
satisfied  in  any  of  his  faculties;  the  most 
perfectible  because  he  will  not  content  him- 
self with  less  than  the  whole  of  truth  and 
all  of  goodness;  by  paraphrasing  one  of 
Pascal's  thoughts,  man  may  be  defined :  A 

[140] 


Confirmation  of  History 

nonsense,  an  insignificant  littleness  just 
arisen  out  of  nothing;  he  is  even  almost 
nothing;  but  he  is  going  onward  to  unite 
himself  to  the  infinite;  whilst  he  does  not 
reach  the  infinite,  nothing  can  content  him. 
Nothing  is  sufficient  to  any  of  our  facul- 
ties; none  of  them  can  fully  enjoy  here  be- 
low their  proper  object.  With  our  eyes  we 
would  love  to  contemplate  the  material 
beauty  of  the  world  in  all  its  splendor  and 
grandeur,  and  instead  we  must  see  the  earth 
stained  by  blood  and  look  upon  the  fetid 
wounds  of  the  human  race.  With  our  ears 
we  would  love  to  hear  infinite  harmonies, 
and  we  are  compelled  to  listen  to  moans, 
sobs  and  imprecations.  Instead  of  the  soft 
nectar  so  much  dreamed  of  by  poets,  or  that 
delicious  manna  that  for  the  Israelites  fell 
from  heaven  in  the  desert  of  Shin,  we  must 
partake  of  a  most  bitter  bread,  because  it 
is  kneaded  with  men's  tears,  sweat  and 
blood.  We  have  a  terrible  craving  to  see 
it  all,  to  touch  it  all,  to  taste  it  all.  We 
would  love  to  travel  over  the  world  with 

[141] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

more  speed  than  lightning,  and  rise  through 
the  air  like  the  eagle,  disputing  the  scepter 
with  that  haughty  queen  of  space,  and  like 
her  sit  upon  the  clouds  and  rock  upon  the 
wings  of  the  winds;  but  the  body  holds  us 
captive  on  earth.  The  complaints  of  our 
soul,  while  contemplating  the  birds  that 
traverse  the  regions  of  space,  were  aptly 
sung  by  a  great  Carmelite  poetess  in  her 
romance  of  a  little  bird,  "for  one  stanza  of 
which,"  says  Menendez  Pelayo,  "I  would 
willingly  exchange  all  the  satires  and 
epistles,  idyls  and  Pindaric  odes  that  were 
composed  by  the  masters  of  her  time." 
********* 

Oh  thou!  light  feathered  songster 

Flitting  through  the  skies, 

If  thou  canst,  pray!  higher  rise 

And  be  my  messenger; 

Of  my  trials  a  loving  memorial 

Bear  in  thy  rapid  flight, 

To  the  inaccessible  light 

Of  the  Sun  of  Justice  eternal. 


[142] 


Confirmation  of  History 

We  cannot  even  control  the  earth  at  our 
pleasure;  so  that  we  cannot  easily  explore 
her  enormous  mountains  which  rise  to  block 
our  way;  and  the  rivers  and  seas  are  often 
closed  against  our  passage.  It  is  true  that 
after  titanic  efforts  we  have  been  able  to 
pierce  mountains  with  our  tunnels,  and  we 
sail  over  the  sea  and  rock  upon  her  billows 
with  almost  as  much  security  as  if  we  slept 
upon  a  soft  bed  of  flowers ;  but  with  all  this 
we  have  yet  much  to  do  in  the  conquest  of 
the  world;  and  as  regards  space,  after  four 
thousand  years  of  effort,  and  above  all,  after 
all  our  many  discoveries,  we  have  not  satis- 
fied our  desires,  but  only  enlarged  them. 
The  more  we  discover  and  invent,  the 
greater  becomes  the  restlessness  of  the  hu- 
man spirit.  And  now,  the  higher  part  of 
our  souls  is  even  less  satisfied  with  created 
things,  than  are  the  senses.  The  intellect 
hungers  after  truth.  We  would  like  to 
know  the  essence  and  the  why  of  all  things; 
but  truth  even  to  the  most  privileged  gen- 
iuses manifests  itself  only  in  fragments,  and 

[143] 


Saint  Teresa's 

by  small  degrees,  as  if  it  disdained  to  com- 
municate itself  to  us. 

Perhaps  the  heart  is  the  faculty  which 
feels  itself  most  imperfect  here  on  earth; 
it  is  the  one  that  suffers  most,  the  one  that 
feels  most  acutely  the  weariness  of  exile.  It 
wants  to  live  a  life  of  purity  and  of  love,  of 
beauty,  confidence  and  friendship.  It  has 
been  formed  in  a  most  delicate  manner,  in 
order  to  live  a  life  of  tenderness  and  of 
sentiment.  But  if  there  is  a  wanderer  and 
exile  in  this  world,  it  is  the  human  heart 
of  the  truer  kind.  It  is  rarely  understood, 
its  affections  hardly  ever  corresponded  with, 
and  too  often  it  is  despised  and  ridiculed. 
If  it  overcomes  these  obstacles,  it  stumbles 
against  another  one  more  to  be  feared,  for 
it  is  easily  sullied.  Friendship  is  rare,  and 
if  at  last  it  is  found  there  is  danger  of  its 
degenerating.  The  heart  should  surrender 
itself  but  to  an  angel,  and  angels  do  not  live 
on  earth. 

If  there  is  any  human  longing  that  noth- 
ing will  satisfy,  it  is  that  of  the  human 

[144] 


Confirmation  of  History 

heart.  The  man  who  suffers  most  is  the  one 
who  feels  most.  Even  paganism  recognized 
this  truth;  and,  as  it  feared  sorrow,  it  for- 
mulated this  famous  apothegm:  Unfor- 
tunate is  he  who  loves.  A  modern  poet  has 
sung  in  saddest  accents:  //  is  a  misfortune 
to  love.  Let  us  mark  these  sentences,  be- 
cause they  testify  to  undeniable  truth,  and 
are  sad  echoes  of  the  heart's  wailings  in  this 
world.  If  it  does  not  love,  it  is  dead;  and 
if  it  loves,  no  matter  what  form  the  senti- 
ment takes,  its  tenderness  will  be  a  burden 
that  will  torment  it;  nothing  will  satisfy  it. 
Ancient  philosophers,  knowing  the  insa- 
tiability of  the  heart,  determined  to  kill  it, 
drowning  its  sentiments  and  proclaiming 
them  weaknesses.  This  is  the  most  convinc- 
ing, practical  proof  that  outside  of  God 
nothing  will  suffice  the  human  heart. 

The  flower,  in  its  way,  is  satisfied  with 
the  morning  dew;  the  lambkin  with  the 
pasture  where  it  grazes;  the  insect  in  join- 
ing with  its  monotonous  song  the  entire  con- 
cert of  creation;  inanimate  beings  also  in 

[145] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

following  the  laws  of  universal  gravitation 
and  the  cohesion  of  their  parts.  These  all 
have  what  they  covet  and  it  satisfies  them. 
Only  man  is  always  dissatisfied;  he  neither 
has  all  he  desires,  nor  is  he  satisfied  with 
what  he  has  most  ardently  longed  for 
when  he  obtains  it.  He  wants  to  nourish 
himself  with  peace,  love,  light,  truth  and 
beauty,  and  will  not  be  content  with  just 
any  manner  or  degree  of  possession,  but 
wishes  to  own  them  with  an  entire  and 
eternal  possession.  Outside  of  God,  all  is 
limited  and  transitory.  God  alone  is  most 
perfect  and  unchangeable.  God  alone  is 
eternal  peace,  boundless  love,  uncreated 
beauty,  infinite  light  and  truth.  For  this 
reason  the  heart  that  has  wandered  far  from 
God,  has  always  been  and  will  always  be 
restless. 

Therefore  history  and  experience,  theol- 
ogy and  metaphysics  teach,  in  union  with 
our  Doctor  of  Avila,  that 

God  alone  sufficeth. 

********* 

[146] 


Confirmation  of  History 

St.  Teresa  of  Jesus,  of  angelic  mind, 
seraphic  heart  and  deific  soul,  approaching 
so  near  in  her  ecstatic  contemplations  the 
source  of  eternal  truth,  was  able  to  know 
and  feel  the  most  sublime  truths  that  the 
human  mind  can  perceive  in  this  world, 
and  she  summarized  them  in  this  short, 
little  verse,  which  can  provide  matter  for 
meditation  through  an  eternity  of  ages  for 
the  most  lofty  intellects. 

The  royal  eagle  rising  in  flight  through 
the  air  and  gently  swaying  herself  upon  the 
clouds,  where  storms  cannot  reach,  holds 
dominion  over  space  above  mountains  and 
valleys,  and,  dwelling  in  peaceful  content- 
ment, is  not  affected  by  the  raging  elements 
below.  So  our  Saint,  the  peerless  eagle,  rose 
on  the  wings  of  prayer  and  of  genius  above 
everything  created;  with  her  thoughts  and 
heart  she  reposed  on  the  very  heart  of  God, 
as  did  St.  John,  the  exile  of  Patmos.  When 
she  found  herself  in  that  inaccessible  focus 
of  light,  she,  like  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles, 
could  affirm:  "I  heard  secret  words,  which 

[147] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

it  is  not  granted  to  man  to  utter"  (II  Cor. 
xii,  4). 

Our  Saint  in  the  apotheosis  of  her  glory, 
like  all  mothers,  remembered  her  children 
and  wished  to  instruct  us  so  that  we  too 
might  be  able  to  rise  to  those  heights,  and 
in  the  form  of  a  canticle  she  taught  us  all 
that  any  exile  of  heaven  must  know.  Our 
Mother,  from  the  heights  of  her  lofty  con- 
templation, saw  clearly  that  in  this  long 
journey  towards  heaven,  we  would  meet 
with  immense  trials,  capable  of  bowing 
even  the  cedars  of  Libanus ;  and  like  a 
mother  lulling  her  children  in  the  cradle, 
with  ineffable  tenderness  she  instructs  and 
encourages  us,  singing  to  us  the  sweetest, 
wisest  and  most  profound  canticle: 

Let  nothing  trouble  thee, 
Let  nothing  affright  thee, 

because  all  is  in  the  hands  of  God  who  is 
our  Father,  and  who  with  paternal  provi- 
dence watches  over  and  protects  us,  if  we 
place  all  our  trust  in  Him. 

[148] 


Confirmation  of  History 

If  you  see  virtue  despised  and  vice  cher- 
ished, truth  ridiculed  and  error  enthroned, 
and  it  seems  to  you  that  in  heaven  there  is 
no  longer  any  Providence  for  this  world, 
remember  that  God  makes  no  haste  to  apply 
the  whole  weight  of  His  justice  here  below, 
because 

All  things  are  passing, 
Only  God  is  changeless. 

Virtue  alone  will  be  eternal,  if  we  do  not 
wilfully  sever  the  holy  tie  that  binds  us  to 
God. 

Let  not  your  trials  discourage  you,  how- 
ever great  they  may  be;  do  not  let  them 
bow  to  the  dust  your  mind  made  to  con- 
template heaven.  With  your  heart  and 
your  trust  placed  in  God,  fight  valiantly  to 
the  end,  my  children,  without  ever  losing 
courage;  because  you  depend  upon  God. 
Strengthen  your  heart  with  Him,  for 

Patience  gains  all  things. 
And  if  you  deserve  God's  protection,  you 

[149] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

will  be  happy  on  earth  and  in  heaven,  be- 
cause in  time  and  throughout  eternity, 

Whosoever  hath  God  wanteth  nothing. 

Be  not  concerned  about  prosperity  of  any 
kind,  nor  heed  in  the  least  the  favor  of  men, 
nor  become  troubled  over  their  inconstancy; 
because  there  is  nothing  more  certain  or 
practical  than  this  sublime  truth: 

God  alone  sufficeth. 

Thus  singing,  our  holy  and  beloved 
Mother  united  the  most  sublime  as  well  as 
the  most  practical  truths  that  on  earth  and 
in  heaven  man  can  ever  know. 


[150] 


Maxims 

Of  St.   Teresa  of  Jesus  for  Her  Religious 

1.  Uncultivated    land,    although    fertile, 
will   produce  thorns   and  thistles;   so   also 
man's  intellect. 

2.  Speak  well  of  all  that  is  spiritual  as 
well  as  of  religious,  priests  and  hermits. 

3.  Speak  little  when  you  are  in  company 
with  many  persons. 

4.  Observe   great   modesty   in   all   your 
words  and  actions. 

5.  Never  contend  eagerly,  especially  in 
matters  of  little  moment. 

6.  Speak  to  all  persons  with  a  well-regu- 
lated cheerfulness. 

7.  Never  treat  any  one  with   contempt 
nor  ridicule  anything. 

8.  Never  rebuke  any  one  without  discre- 
tion and  humility,  and  a  secret  confusion  at 
your  own  faults. 

9.  Accommodate  yourself  to  the  mood  of 
those  with  whom  you   converse;   be  glad 

[151] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

with  the  joyful,  and  sad  with  the  sorrowful 
— in  a  word,  become  all  things  to  all,  that  so 
you  may  gain  all. 

10.  Never  speak  without  weighing  your 
words  well,   and   fervently  recommending 
them  to  our  Lord,  that  so  you  may  say  noth- 
ing to  displease  Him. 

11.  Never    excuse    yourself    unless    you 
have  strong  reasons  for  doing  so. 

12.  Never  mention  anything  concerning 
yourself  which  may  redound  to  your  praise, 
such  as  your  knowledge,  virtues,  high  birth, 
unless  you  have  some  reason  to  hope  it  may 
do  good;  and  then  mention  it  with  humility, 
remembering  that  all  these  gifts  come  from 
the  hand  of  God. 

13.  Never  use  exaggerated  expressions; 
but  give  your  opinion  calmly  and  simply. 

14.  In    every   conversation   endeavor   to 
bring  in  some  spiritual  subject,  for  this  may 
prevent  idle  words  and  detraction. 

15.  Never  assert  anything  of  which  you 
are  not  quite  certain. 

1 6.  Never  intrude  your  opinion  on  any 

[152] 


Maxims 

matter  unless  it  be  asked,  or  unless  charity 
require  you  to  do  so. 

17.  When  any  one  speaks  on  spiritual  sub- 
jects, listen  to  him  with  humility,  and  as  a 
disciple  to  his  master,  and  take  to  yourself 
whatever  good  he  may  impart. 

18.  Make  known  to  your  superior  and 
confessor   all  your   temptations,   imperfec- 
tions and  difficulties,  so  that  they  may  ad- 
vise you  and  give  you  a  remedy  for  over- 
coming them. 

19.  Do  not  remain  out  of  your  cell,  nor 
leave  it  without  a  reason;  and  on  leaving  it 
ask  of  God  the  grace  not  to  offend  Him. 

20.  Never  eat  or  drink  but  at  the  ap- 
pointed time,  and  then  give  thanks  to  God. 

21.  Do   everything   as   if   you   saw   His 
Majesty  present  with  you,  for  by  this  means 
a  soul  makes  great  progress. 

22.  Never  speak  evil  or  listen  to  evil  of 
any  one  except  yourself;  and  when  you  take 
pleasure  in  observing  this  rule,  you  will  be 
making  great  progress. 

23.  Offer  every  action  you   perform   to 
God,  and  pray  that  it  may  tend  to  His  honor 
and  glory. 

[153] 


Saint  Teresa's 

24.  When  you  are  merry,  refrain  from 
immoderate  laughter;  and  let  your  mirth  be 
humble,  modest,  gentle  and  edifying. 

25.  Always  consider  yourself  to  be  the 
servant  of  all,  and  behold  Christ  our  Lord 
in  all ;  and  thus  you  will  show  them  due  re- 
spect and  reverence. 

26.  Be  ever  ready  to  obey,  as  if  Christ 
our  Lord,  in  the  person  of  your  superior, 
had  commanded  you. 

27.  In  every  action,  and  at  every  hour, 
examine  your  conscience;  and  having  ob- 
served  your  defects,   endeavor   to   correct 
them    by    the    Divine    assistance:    by    this 
means  you  will  soon  attain  perfection. 

28.  Take  no  notice  of  the  faults  of  others, 
but  only  of  their  virtues,  and  observe  your 
own  defects. 

29.  Always  cherish  a  strong  desire  of  suf- 
fering for  Christ  in  all  things  and  on  all 
occasions. 

30.  Every  day  make  frequent  oblations 
of  yourself  to   God,   and  that  with  great 
fervor,  and  an  earnest  desire  to  possess  Him. 

31.  Place  before  you  throughout  the  day 

[154] 


Maxims 

the  subject  of  your  morning's  meditation, 
and  use  great  diligence  in  this  respect,  for 
it  will  be  of  great  benefit  to  you. 

32.  Guard  carefully  the  sentiments  with 
which  our  Lord  may  inspire  you,  and  put 
into  practice  the  desires  He  gives  you  dur- 
ing prayer. 

33.  Shun  singularity  as  much  as  possible, 
for  it  does  great  harm  in  a  community. 

34.  Often  read  the  constitutions  and  rules 
of  your  Order,  and  observe  them  faithfully. 

35.  In   all    created    things    consider   the 
providence  and  wisdom  of  God,  and  praise 
Him  in  them  all. 

36.  Detach  your  heart  from  everything; 
seek  God  and  you  will  find  Him. 

37.  Never  display  outwardly,   devotion 
that  you  have  not  inwardly;  but  you  may 
well  hide  your  indevotion. 

38.  Let  not  your  inward  devotion  be  vis- 
ible except  in  great  necessity.    "My  secret 
to  myself,"  said  St.  Francis  and  St.  Bernard. 

39.  Never  complain  of  the  food,  whether 
it  be  well  or  badly  prepared,  remembering 
the  gall  and  vinegar  of  Jesus  Christ. 

[155] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

40.  Speak  to  no  one  at  table,  nor  lift  up 
your  eyes  to  look  at  any  one. 

41.  Consider  the  heavenly  banquet  and 
its  food,  which  is  God,  and  the  guests,  who 
are  the  angels :  raise  your  eyes  to  that  table, 
and  desire  to  sit  down  at  it. 

42.  In    presence    of   your    superior    (in 
whom  you  behold  Christ  Himself),  never 
speak  except  what  is  necessary,   and  that 
with  great  reverence. 

43.  Never,  without  real  necessity,  do 
things  privately  that  you  cannot  perform  in 
the  presence  of  all. 

44.  Make  no  comparisons  between  per- 
sons, for  comparisons  are  odious. 

45.  When  you  are  reprehended  for  any- 
thing, receive  the  reproof  with  interior  and 
exterior  humility,  and  pray  to  God  for  the 
person  from  whom  you  have  received  it. 

46.  When  one  superior  gives  you  a  com- 
mand, do  not  say  that  another  commands 
the  contrary,  but  reflect  that  they  both  have 
holy  ends  in  view. 

47.  Be  not  curious  to  discover  secrets ;  ask 
not  questions  about  things  that  do  not  con- 
cern you. 

[156] 


48.  Cease  not  to  bewail  your  past  life  and 
your  present  tepidity,  and  your  unfitness  for 
heaven;  so  that  you  may  live  in  fear,  which 
will  bring  great  good  to  your  soul. 

49.  Always  do  what  those  with  whom  you 
live  desire  of  you,  if  it  be  not  contrary  to 
obedience,   and  answer  them  at  all   times 
with  humility  and  sweetness. 

50.  Ask  for  nothing  peculiar  in  diet  and 
apparel  except  upon  some  urgent  necessity. 

51.  Never  cease  to  humble  and  mortify 
yourself  in  all  things  until  death. 

52.  Acquire   the   habit   of    making   fre- 
quent acts  of  love,   for  they  inflame  and 
soften  the  soul. 

53.  Exercise  yourself  in  acts  of  all  other 
virtues. 

54.  Offer  all  things  to  the  Eternal  Father, 
in  union  with  the  merits  of  His  Son,  Jesus 
Christ. 

55.  Be   gentle    to    all,    and    to   yourself 
severe. 

56.  On  the  festivals  of  the  Saints,  medi- 
tate on  their  virtues,  and  beg  God  to  endow 
you  with  them. 

[157] 


Saint  Teresa's 

57.  Be  very  exact  every  night  in  the  ex- 
amination of  your  conscience. 

58.  On  the  day  you  communicate,  let  the 
subject  of  your  prayer  be,  that  so  miserable 
a  sinner  as  yourself  be  allowed  to  receive 
God.    And  let  your  prayer  at  night  be  a 
thanksgiving  for  having  received  Him. 

59.  When  you  are  superioress,  never  re- 
buke any  one  in  anger,  but  wait  till  it  is 
passed ;  and  thus  the  rebuke  will  be  fruitful 
of  good. 

60.  Strive  earnestly  to  acquire  perfection 
and  devotion,  and  do  all  that  you  have  to  do 
devoutly  and  perfectly. 

61.  Exercise  yourself   diligently   in   the 
fear  of  the  Lord,  which  keeps  the  soul  in 
compunction  and  humility. 

62.  Consider   well   how   quickly  men 
change,  and  how  little  reason  we  have  to 
trust  them:    adhere,   therefore,   closely  to 
God,  Who  is  unchangeable. 

63.  Endeavor  to  trust  concerning  the  af- 
fairs of  your  soul  with  a  confessor  who  is 
spiritual  and  learned,  and  follow  his  coun- 
sels in  all  things. 

[158] 


Maxims 

64.  Whenever    you    communicate,    beg 
some  gifts  of  God,  through  the  great  mercy 
whereby  He  is  pleased  to  come  into  your 
poor  soul. 

65.  Though  you  may  have  many  Saints 
for  your  advocates,  address  your  requests 
particularly  to  St.  Joseph,  for  his  power  is 
very  great  with  God. 

66.  In  time  of  sorrow  and  trouble  do  not 
omit  your  customary  good  works  of  prayer 
and  penance;  because  the  devil  tries  to  dis- 
turb you  so  that  you  will  abandon  them: 
but  rather  increase  them,  and  you  will  see 
how  soon  the  Lord  will  relieve  you. 

67.  Do   not  communicate  your  tempta- 
tions and  imperfections  to  those  who  have 
made  little  progress  towards  perfection,  be- 
cause  you   will    harm   both   yourself    and 
them;  but  only  disclose  them  to  the  more 
perfect. 

68.  Remember  that  you  have  only  one 
soul;  that  you  can  die  but  once;  that  you 
have  but  one  short  life;  that  there  is  but  one 
glory,  and  that  eternal;  and  this  thought 
will  detach  you  from  many  things. 

[159] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\-Mar\ 

69.  Let  your  desire  be  to  see  God,  your 
fear  lest  you  lose  Him,  your  sorrow  that  you 
do  not  enjoy  Him,  your  joy  in  that  which 
may  bring  you  to  Him;  and  thus  shall  you 
live  in  great  peace. 


(160] 


Poems 

COMPOSED    BY 

Saint  Teresa  of  Jesus 


ST.  TERESA'S  BOOK-MARK 

Nada  te  turbe 

Let  naught  disturb  thee; 
Naught  fright  thee  ever; 
All  things  are  passing; 
God  changeth  never. 
Patience  e'er  conquers ; 
With  God  for  thine  own 
Thou  nothing  dost  lack — 
He  sufficeth  alone! 


[163] 


'  Saint  Teresa's 


SELF-OBLATION 

Vuestro  soy,  para  Vos  nad 

Lord,  I  am  Thine,  for  I  was  born  for  Thee  ! 
Reveal  what  is  it  Thou  dost  ask  of  me. 

O  sovereign  Lord,  of  majesty  supreme! 

O  Wisdom,  that  existed  from  all  time! 

O  Bounty,  showing  pity  on  my  soul  ! 

God,  one  sole  Being,  merciful,  sublime, 

Behold  this  basest  of  created  things, 

As  thus,  with  hardihood  its  love  it  sings, 

And  tell  me,  Lord,  what  Thou  dost  ask  of  me! 

Lo,  I  am  Thine!    Thou  hast  created  me: 
And  I  am  Thine,  Thou  has  redeemed  me: 
And  I  am  Thine,  for  Thou  dost  bear  with  me, 
And  Thine,  for  Thou  hast  called  me  to  Thee, 
And  Thine,  Who  dost  preserve  me  at  Thy  cost 
Nor  leavest  me  to  perish  'mid  the  lost  — 
Say  what  it  is,  Lord,  Thou  dost  will  of  me. 

Declare  what  dost  decree,  O  Master  kind  ! 
If  serf  so  vile  have  any  fitting  task, 
And  tell  what  office  by  Thy  will  ordained 
Is  work  that  from  so  base  a  slave  dost  ask! 
Behold,  sweet  Love,  I  wait  for  Thy  command, 
Behold  me,  Lord,  before  Whose  face  I  stand  ! 
Do  Thou  reveal  what  Thou  dost  will  of  me! 

Behold  my  heart,  which  here  I  bring,  and  in 
Thine  hand  as  glad  entire  free-offering  lay, 
Together  with  my  body,  life,  and  soul, 
The  love,  the  longings  that  my  being  sway  ! 
To  Thee,  Redeemer  and  most  gentle  Spouse, 
In  willing  holocaust  I  pledge  my  vows, 
What  is  there,  Lord,  that  I  may  do  for  Thee? 

[1641 


Poems 

Bestow  long  life,  or  straightway  bid  me  die ; 

Let  health  be  mine,  or  pain  and  sickness  send, 

With  honour  or  dishonour ;  be  my  path 

Beset  by  war,  or  peaceful  till  the  end. 

My  strength  or  weakness  be  as  Thou  shalt  choose, 

For  naught  Thou  asketh  shall  I  e'er  refuse, — 

I  only  wish  what  Thou  wilt  have  of  me. 

Assign  me  riches,  keep  in  poverty, 

And  let  me  cherished  or  neglected  dwell, 

In  joy  or  mourning  as  Thou  wilt,  upraised 

To  highest  heaven,  or  hurled  down  to  hell ! 

Whether  the  sky  be  bright,  from  cloudlets  free, 

It  matters  not — I  leave  the  choice  to  Thee, 

What  lot,  O  Lord,  wilt  Thou  decide  for  me? 

Give  contemplation,  if  Thou  wilt,  or  let 
My  lonely  soul  in  dryness  ever  pine ; 
Abundance  and  devotion  be  the  gift 
Thou  choosest,  or  a  sterile  soul  be  mine ! 
O  Majesty  supreme,  in  naught  apart 
From  Thy  decree  can  I  find  peace  of  heart ! 
Say  what  it  is,  Lord,  Thou  dost  wish  of  me ! 

Lord,  give  me  wisdom,  or,  if  love  demand, 

Leave  me  in  ignorance ;  it  matters  naught 

If  mine  be  years  of  plenty,  or  beset 

With  famine  direful  and  with  parching  drought! 

Be  darkness  over  all  or  daylight  clear, 

Despatch  me  hither,  keep  me  stationed  here, 

Say  what  it  is,  Lord,  Thou  wilt  have  of  me! 

If  Thou  shouldst  destine  me  for  happiness, 
For  Love's  sake,  joy  and  happiness  I  greet; 
Bid  me  endure  and  labour  till  I  die, 
Resigned,  in  work  and  pain  my  death  I'll  meet, 

[165] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

Reveal  the  how,  the  where,  the  when ;  for  this 

Is  the  sole  boon,  O  Love,  I  crave  of  Thee, 

That  Thou  declare  what  Thou  wouldst  have  of  me! 

Let  Calvary  or  Thabor  be  my  fate, 

A  desert  or  a  fertile  land  of  rest; 

Like  Job,  in  sorrow  let  me  mourning  weep, 

Or  lie,  like  John,  in  peace  upon  Thy  breast; 

Bear  fruit  and  flourish,  or,  a  withered  vine 

I'll  perish  fruitless,  so  the  choice  be  Thine! 

Reveal,  O  Lord,  what  Thou  dost  ask  of  me! 

Like  Joseph  as  he  lay  in  shackles  bound, 

Or  holding  over  Egypt  first  command ; 

David  chastised,  atoning  for  his  sins, 

Or  David  crowned  as  ruler  o'er  the  land; 

With  Jonas  struggling,  'mid  the  raging  sea 

Submerged,  or  set  from  ills  and  tempests  free — 

Declare,  O  Lord,  what  Thou  wilt  have  of  me! 

Then  bid  me  speak  or  bid  me  silence  keep, 

Make  me  a  fecund  or  a  barren  land; 

Expose  my  wounds  by  the  stern  Law's  decree 

Or  comfort  me  by  Gospel  message  bland. 

Let  me  in  torture  lie  or  comfort  give, 

I  crave  alone  that  Thou  within  me  live, 

And  shouldst  reveal  what  Thou  wilt  have  of  me! 


DIVINE  BEAUTY 

O  hermosura  que  excedeis! 

O  Beauty,  that  doth  far  transcend 
All  other  beauty!    Thou  dost  deign, 
Without  a  wound,  our  hearts  to  pain — 
Without  a  pang,  our  wills  to  bend 
To  hold  all  love  for  creatures  vain. 

[166] 


Poems 

O  mystic  love-knot,  that  dost  bind 

Two  beings  of  such  diverse  kind ! 

How  canst  Thou,  then,  e'er  severed  be? 

For  bound,  such  strength  we  gain  from  Thee, 

We  take  for  joys  the  griefs  we  find ! 

Things  void  of  being  linked,  unite 
With  that  great  Beauty  Infinite: 
Thou  fill'st  my  soul,  which  hungers  still : 
Thou  lov'st  where  men  can  find  but  ill: 
Our  naught  grows  precious  by  Thy  might ! 


THE  SOUL'S  DETACHMENT 

Lleva  el  pensamiento 

Keep  thy  thought  and  ev'ry  wish 
Ever  raised  to  heaven  on  high ; 
Let  no  trouble  thee  oppress, 
Naught  destroy  tranquillity. 
Follow  with  a  valiant  heart 
Jesus,  in  the  narrow  way; 
Come  what  will,  whate'er  thy  trials, 
Let  naught  ever  thee  dismay. 

All  the  glory  of  this  world 
Is  but  vain  and  empty  show; 
Swiftly  all  things  pass  away, 
Naught  is  stable  here  below. 
Be  thy  sole  desire  to  win 
Good  divine  that  never  wanes; 
True  and  rich  in  promises, 
God  our  Lord  unchanged  remains. 

[167] 


Saint  Teresa's 


Love  what  best  deserves  thy  love  — 
Goodness,  Bounty  infinite  — 
Lacking  patience,  love  can  ne'er 
Reach  full  purity  and  height. 
Confidence  and  living  faith 
In  the  strife  the  soul  maintain  ; 
He  who  hopes  and  who  believes 
All  things  in  the  end  shall  gain. 

Though  the  wrath  of  hell  aroused 
Hard  the  hunted  soul  besets, 
He  who  to  his  God  adheres 
Mocks  at  all  the  devil's  threats. 
Though  disgrace  and  crosses  come, 
Though  his  plans  should  end  in  naught, 
He  whose  God  his  treasure  is 
Ne'er  shall  stand  in  need  of  aught. 
Go,  false  pleasures  of  the  world! 
Go,  vain  riches  that  entice  ! 
Though  the  soul  should  forfeit  all, 
God  alone  would  all-suffice! 


SELF-SURRENDER 

Dichoso  el  corazon  enamorado 

How  blessed  is  the  heart  with  love  fast  bound 
On  God,  the  centre  of  its  every  thought! 
Renouncing  all  created  things  as  naught, 
In  Him  its  glory  and  its  joy  are  found. 
Even  from  self  its  cares  are  now  set  free  ; 
T'wards  God  alone  its  aims,  its  actions  tend — 
Joyful  and  swift  it  journeys  to  its  end 
O'er  the  wild  waves  of  life's  tempestuous  sea! 

[168] 


Poems 

'SOUL,  THOU  MUST  SEEK  THYSELF  IN 
ME,  AND  SEEK  FOR  ME  IN  THEE" 

Alma,  buscarte  has  en  mi 

Such  is  the  power  of  love,  O  soul, 

To  paint  thee  in  My  heart, 

No  craftsman  with  such  art, 
Whate'er  his  skill  might  be,  could  there 

Thine  image  thus  impart ! 
'Twas  love  that  gave  thee  life: 

Then,  Fairest,  if  thou  be 

Lost  to  thyself,  thou'lt  see 
Thy  portrait  in  My  bosom  stamped: 

Soul,  seek  thyself  in  Me! 

Wouldst  find  thy  form  within  My  heart 

If  there  thou  madest  quest, 

And  with  such  life  invest, 
Thou  wouldst  rejoice  to  find  thee  thus 

Engraven  in  My  breast. 
Or  if,  perchance,  art  ignorant 

Where  thou  mayst  light  on  Me, 

Wander  not  wide  and  free, 
Soul,  if  My  presence  wouldst  attain, 

Seek  in  thyself  for  Me! 

Because  in  thee  I  find  My  house  of  rest, 

My  dwelling-place,  My  home, 

Where  at  all  hours  I  come 
And  knock  at  the  closed  portal  of  thy  thoughts 

When  far  abroad  they  roam. 
No  need  is  there  to  look  for  Me  without, 

Nor  far  in  search  to  flee ; 

Promptly  I  come  to  thee ; 
If  thou  but  call  to  Me  it  doth  suffice — 

Seek  in  thyself  for  Me! 

[169] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo\'Mar\ 

AD  CHRISTUM 

0  Thou  my  sovereign  Spouse!  To  Thee 

1  come.    Ah,  grant  me  to  attain, 
Nor  let  me  wander  far  in  vain, 
That  in  the  depths  of  Thy  vast  sea 
This  streamlet  may  its  end  obtain! 

O  gentle  Spouse !    Aid  with  Thy  grace, 
And  with  the  palm  my  soul  invest 
That's  due  to  love's  subservient  quest, 
That  in  its  Bridegroom's  fond  embrace 
My  soul  may  find  its  perfect  rest! 

Thine  arms  for  me  will  vict'ry  get, 
Nor  to  entreat  such  boon  I  shrink, 
Knowing  that  Thou  wilt  never  think 
How  little  Thou  dost  owe — and  yet 
How  deeply  /  am  in  Thy  debt ! 

Lord,  by  Thy  nuptial  contract  bide, 

Detach  my  soul  from  alien  ties 

And  make  it  sure  of  Paradise, 

Since  Thou  with  arms  outstretched  wide 

Art  waiting  to  receive  Thy  bride. 

Since  Thou  dost  thus  Thine  arms  extend 
I'll  give  my  soul  to  be  their  prey, 
And  while  Thou  drawest  it  away, 
Thine  eyes,  my  Christ,  upon  me  bend, 
Whose  soul  dost  from  my  body  rend ! 

While  I  to  Thee  my  soul  confide, 
Let  Thy  five  wounds  my  comfort  be 
To  which  my  soul  finds  passage  free, 
For  they  as  heaven's  portals  bide 
Which,  for  my  sake,  were  opened  wide. 

[170] 


Poems 

Thy  guests  are  of  such  noble  sort 

I  know  not  if  my  lowly  state 

Gives  entrance,  so  beside  the  gate, 

A  lowly  woman,  do  I  wait, 

Apart  from  those  that  form  Thy  court! 

My  life  in  such  a  sort  is  led, 
Obedient  to  the  laws  Love  made, 
That  all  my  hopes  on  Thee  are  stayed, 
While  hangs  to  plead  in  my  poor  stead 
This  Agnus  Dei  by  my  bed. 

Care  not  that  I  am  indigent, 
But  look  upon  my  soul  as  Thine, 
And  say  if  certain  hope  be  mine ! 
Ah  yes!     I  see  Thy  head  is  bent 
To  bow  me  token  of  assent! 

At  length  the  time  has  come  to  see 
How  far  our  love  doth  lead  in  truth, 
And  if  we  love  in  very  sooth, 
For  now  I  come  to  shelter  me 
Beneath  the  branches  of  this  tree. 

Since  this  is  so,  my  Spouse,  my  King! 
Though  surging  tumult  round  me  rage, 
Let  Thy  command  my  dread  assuage, 
While  to  these  wood  cross-bars  I  cling, 
That  He  they  hold  defence  may  bring! 

I  do  not  fear  the  anguish  rife 

In  that  last  parting's  bitter  sting 

If  unto  Thee,  my  Christ,  I  cling, 

For  in  that  hour  of  final  strife 

I  hold  within  my  clasped  hands — Life. 

[171] 


Saint  Teresa's  Boo^Mar\ 

For  if  I  clasp  Thee,  Lord,  behold 
Then  doth  our  mutual  delight 
My  soul  with  Thee,  O  Christ,  unite, 
Since  God  within  mine  arms  I  hold 
Who  in  His  arms  doth  me  enfold! 


[172] 


Prayer  of  St.  Teresa 

O  my  God!  since  Thou  art  charity  and  love  itself, 
perfect  this  virtue  in  me,  that  its  ardour  may  consume 
all  the  dregs  of  self-love.  May  I  hold  Thee  as  my 
sole  Treasure  and  my  one  glory,  far  dearer  than  all 
creatures.  Make  me  love  myself  in  Thee,  for  Thee, 
and  by  Thee,  and  my  neighbour,  for  Thy  sake,  in  the 
same  manner,  bearing  his  burdens  as  I  wish  him  to 
bear  mine.  Let  me  care  for  naught  beside  Thee,  ex- 
cept in  so  far  as  it  will  lead  me  to  Thee.  May  I  re- 
joice in  Thy  perfect  love  for  me,  and  in  the  eternal 
love  borne  for  Thee  by  the  angels  and  saints  in  heaven, 
where  the  veil  is  lifted  and  they  see  Thee  face  to  face. 
Grant  that  I  may  exult  because  the  just,  who  know 
Thee  by  faith  in  this  life,  count  Thee  as  their  highest 
good,  the  centre  and  the  end  of  their  affections.  I  long 
that  sinners  and  the  imperfect  may  do  the  same,  and 
with  the  aid  of  Thy  grace  I  crave  to  help  them. 


[173] 


A     000027176     7 


